Akitu, the Assyrian new year
The Assyrian new year is celebrated on the first of April each year. Known as "akitu" or "Kha b-Nisan", the holiday marks not only the beginning of the new year, but also the coming of spring.
Akitu, the Assyrian new year
Rhymes in History

Akitu, the Assyrian new year

Photo: AFP/Anadolu Agency/Ismael Adnan Yaqoob
Meszár Tárik 12/04/2023 07:00

The Assyrian new year is celebrated on the first of April each year. Known as "akitu" or "Kha b-Nisan", the holiday marks not only the beginning of the new year, but also the coming of spring.

It is one of the oldest religious holidays in the world, dating back to the ancient Sumerian civilisation of southern Mesopotamia (4th millennium BC - early 2nd millennium BC). The festival did not cease to be celebrated later, being adopted by both the Assyrians and the Babylonians.

In ancient times, the Assyrian new year was celebrated for 12 days a year. The year used to be divided into two seasons, summer and winter, and their beginning was marked by two agricultural festivals, the autumn barley harvest and the spring barley harvest. It was obvious that agriculture played a key role in their celebrations.
Photo: AFP/Anadolu Agency/Ismael Adnan Yaqoob
It is important to note that the name "Assyrian" was not only present in ancient times, as there is still a community of Assyrians today, which makes the Assyrian new year a celebration of the bond between ancient and modern Assyrians.

In the modern era, the reintroduction of Akitu began in the 1960s, during the Assyrian intellectual renaissance. However, due to political repression, the celebrations were largely closed until the 1990s. Nowadays, modern Assyrians celebrate Akitu for only one day, on 1 April. Mainly in Iraq and the Assyrian diaspora, parades and picnics are held, and there is dancing to mark the holiday. Another custom is that on the first day of spring, Assyrians place wheat on small plates in front of their homes, an important part of the celebration. Assyrians consider the week to be a sacred number, and symbolize this by decorating the table with seven different fruits, such as apples, pomegranates, pears, apricots, peaches, quinces and plums, to celebrate the start of the new year.
Photo: AFP/Anadolu Agency/Ismael Adnan Yaqoob
Who are the Assyrians?
The Assyrian name is actually one of the oldest of the folk names, dating back to the last third of the third millennium BC. However, the meaning of the Assyrian name has undergone substantial changes in different periods of history. A distinction must therefore be made between the Assyrians of antiquity and the Assyrians of today, who live mainly in Iraq, south-eastern Turkey, north-western Iran and north-eastern Syria, speak mostly Aramaic and profess Christianity. This is somewhat contradicted, however, by the narrative often put forward by modern Assyrians today, according to which the Assyrians are not only a collective ethnic group of Aramaic-speaking Christians from former Mesopotamian areas, but also a group that often transcends national boundaries and existed long before Christianity.

In their view, the contemporary Assyrian population is a transnational population that can be considered indigenous to the aforementioned areas. It is important to note that over the last century, modern Assyrians have migrated en masse to different parts of the world, such as Europe, Australia, Russia and North America. This move has been influenced by tragic events such as the massacres during the First World War, the repressive policies of the dictatorial regimes of the Middle East in the 20th century and the campaign against minorities by terrorist organisations in the 21st century.
The author is a researcher at the Eurasia Center of John von Neumann University

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