Twenty six African countries as well as Arab and European countries will feature in the Tin Hinan Festival in Tamanrasset, southern Algeria, 23-24 February 2009, according to Samadat Chikh, chairman of the Ahaggar’s Friends Association, organisers of the festival.
Though cultural, the festival is also believed to have economic and tourist impacts and aims at promoting the Algerian destination to visitors from all over the world.
Chikh said the festival would also help highlight the culture of the local Tuareg population.
The venue hosts the tomb of Queen Tin Hinan, who reigned at the end of the third century, and the tomb is among the main tourist attractions in southern Algeria.
The festival will also help call attention to other historic relics, including rock drawings, ancestral cemetries and traditional houses, in addition to oases, traditional cooking arts and crafts.
Countries like Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Mozambique have featured in previous Tin Hinan festivals.
The event is mainly feminine because the organisers believe that by encouraging the presence of women, the memories of Queen Tin Hinan can be kept alive.
As part of every edition of the festival, a Tin Hinan beauty contest is also organised.
