The Beni Ades (Arabic بني عداس bnī ʕdās, Kabyle Bni Ɛdas[1]) are an itinerant group living in north-central Algeria, negatively stereotyped by the wider population and often loosely compared to the Roma.
[2] In 1851, Alexandre Dumas describes these "Bohemians" as an endogamous itinerant group of horse-traders and fortune-tellers, and recounts colourful anecdotes of their horse-trading scams around Sétif.
[3] In the early 20th century, they are described in similar terms as specialists in tattooing, circumcision, horse-trading, and fortune-telling.
By the early 21st century, a Beni Ades community in Tizi-Ouzou is described as making its living by begging and sand-mining, while rejecting school for the children, and claiming Tunisian nationality despite having come to the area from Algiers.
[6] The Beni Ades are reported to regularly visit certain saints' tombs, notably those of Sidi Ahmed ou Yousof in Miliana[7] and Sidi Khelifa in Saïda Province.