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It was from Assyria which is known as “Mesopotamia” (between the Tigris and Euphrates) that the first civilization began, and generated a wholesome intellectual thought that helped to build scientific as well as religious basis for all cultures. Here, it should be pointed that Babylon which is going to have a large presence in the following paragraphs, is an Assyrian city as it was asserted by the Greek historian Herodotus when he said: "Having subdued the rest of the continent, Cyrus turned his attention to Assyria, where the great cities, especially the most renowned and powerful of them all – Babylon, to which the seat of government was transferred after the fall of Nineveh…"
If we are to look deeply into the culture of Assyria, we would
find that the Assyrians were the first to believe in the Oneness
of God, the unseen and the greatest of all gods, but under a
different name every period. For we find the Sumerian
“Enlil” who killed the dragon of the seas in order to bring
about peace to the world, Then “Mardukh” in Babylon (Ashur
in Nineveh). Later the idea was passed to neighbouring peoples
like the Phoenicians where goddess Anat the lover of Baal killed
the dragon in the Canaanite Epic of Creation ,even the Hebrews'
Yahweh is the hero that killed the dragon in the Torah's legend
( Isaiah 27:1 - 51:9) (Psalms 74:11-13 and 89:11). All the gods
that killed the dragon of evil in the legends, were to represent
the "Greatest" god , which would take on a different
name in each period culminating in the word "Alla" at
a later time after Christ from the term “El”, whose strength
would slay the dragon at the hands of St. George. |
We always notice when we study the old Assyrian religion, the plurality of gods because human beings were used in the beginning to sanctify all that was frightful ,and considered every movement in nature and in life as a tool in the hands of each of the
gods. When there was a drought, the population would pray to the god of fertility and thunder, and if the king was pondering about something he would pray to the god of wisdom. All this was due to the human being's interaction within his environment. However, all those gods came second to the lord of the gods, the king of the universe, and we find an example to that in the prayers offered by King Atur Nater Epri
II (900 B.C) to the god Ashur for if we replace in the prayer's text the word "Ashur" with the word "God", we wouldn't find a difference between it and prayers in churches today. (The Assyrian Intellectual's Magazine, Baghdad, November 1977, by the Assyriologist Fred Tamimi).
During the 40s of the 19th century Austin Henry Layard (the father of Assyriology) and his assistant Hermis Rassam (An Assyrian from Mosul) discovered the library of King Ashur Banipal (626-667
B.C).
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The contents of the library included about 25000 cuneiform tablets amongst which was the first story of the Flood– The Epic of Gilgamesh was found, and the Epic of the goddess Ishtar. In this very same library texts were found about the Epic of Creation "Enuma Elish" (when in the highest) recorded in cuneiform on seven tablets, referring to seven generations in the creation of the universe and human kind, which the text of the seven days of creation in the Torah's Genesis, are similar to it.
The contents of this library are considered to be the main portal to Assyriology and the beginning to discover all the distorted writings which have encompassed the human thought for 2000 years, and the contents of this monumental library have scientifically replaced the Torah which was considered for many centuries as the sole historic reference to the area.
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In the middle of the 19th century scientist Henry Rawlenson was able to decipher and read the cuneiform script, then George Smith
shocked the Torah school of thought around the world when he was able to read and interpret the Babylonian Epic of The Flood in 1872. The similarities between the religion of Assyria and that of the Torah's legends astonished the scholars even those who were Jews at the discovery of the Assyrian cuneiform written tablets, thus the phrase "Mesopotamian Torah" was given, and those scientists had to face a fierce confrontation by the western Churches and Jews, which resulted in the disappearance of many important tablets. Scientist Fredrich Dellitch mentioned how he had lectured about the Mispotamian Torah in Berlin on 13/12/1902 in the presence of Caesar Wilhelm II who asked him to repeat it in the Royal Palace, so he presented his lecture entitled “Babylon & The Bible”, where he explained that the stories of the Bible were taken from Assyria, creating thus a huge clamer within the European media, which caused Dellitch to receive threats from some Jewish Rabbis and was severely reprimanded by western Churches.
Few of the neighbouring peoples to the Assyrian homeland, know about April First and its connotations both cultural and national to the Assyrian people as well as its philosophical background for all of humanity. Generally, today's Assyrians consider the month of April as God's blessed month, exactly as it was considered for thousands of years before, when the belief was that behind the nature's revival was the Lord of the gods’ descent to earth, then battling with the evil gods and winning then and finally marrying the goddess Ishtar, thus reviving nature and the beginning of Spring.
The Sumerians called this feast "Akiti Zigorku", but in Assyrian it was called "Rish-Sateen" (The Beginning Of The New Year)... Even today, the month of April is scientifically considered the real beginning to the cycle of life on earth, for in April, nature begins to renew and revive itself and not in January.
In the Assyrian cities (Babylon, Nineveh and the rest...) the Epic of "Enuma
Elish" (when in the highest) was considered the ritual reading which embodied the Lord of the gods' eternal existence, the beginning and the purpose of
life. This is considered one of the oldest Epic legends in history which was recited in the temple of Mardukh , "Easagila" which means the (Magnificent House), that was done on the fourth day of
Akitu (Assyrian New Year's festivities in Babylon) which lasted twelve days following the night of the equinox (between 19-21 of March).
The prelude to the Epic of Enuma Elish mentions in the first tablet, the beginning of the first generation when the earth didn't exist and was nameless. The universe was represented by the male element ,
Apso (god of fresh waters), the female element Tiamat (goddess of salty waters) and
Mammo (god of clouds) which moved between them (notice here the exact similarity in day one of Genesis 1:1-2).
Then in the sixth generation, god Mardukh (Ashur for the Assyrians of Nineveh) who creates “Lallu” (human) to serve the gods so that they may rest in the seventh generation (exactly as when God created a human on the sixth day, and rested on the seventh, Genesis 2:2-3).
Briefly, the story of Creation is about the goddess Tiamat which takes the form of a dragon "Habur" which swims in the seas, she wanted to get rid of her bothersome grand-children in order to enjoy a peaceful time with her husband
Apso, so she summons the scary beasts for a battle, there comes Mardukh
(Ashur) and battles her until he's victorious, then divides the waters Tiamat into two parts, creating the heavens with its stars and
planets, while he makes the earth with the second part where he creates animals and plants(as in the Torah , Genesis 1:6 when God separates between the waters and creates heaven and earth) When Mardukh finishes with all that, he creates a pair of humans with blood and mud (!!) then Mardukh builds a house on earth so that he may rest whenever he descends to earth in April (exactly as the Lord of hosts, builds a house in Israel (II Samuel 7:1-17).
The phrase "Lord's tent" is found in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh -where the Torah’s story of the Flood was taken from, in the person of Noah after the Babylonian "Ziosodra" & the Sumarian
"Utemapeshtim").
A- April's Festivities Before Christ (Nineveh and Babylon)
(Some general ideas about the ancient Assyrian mythology)
The following brief picture about the festivities program can give the reader an idea about how the ceremonies of the Assyrian New Year were conducted in Babylon and Nineveh at the same time, where we notice the idea of the Lord of gods, who was called Mardukh in Babylon and Ashur in Nineveh. The festivities of the Babylonian Assyrian New
Year (Akitu) were held starting on the first night of Spring equinox , and they included prayers, huge religious plays as the priests would use figure representations of the gods as a medium of expression. The program of the festivities would be as follows:
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1st to 3rd Day:
Purifying souls: The priest of Easagila (Mardukh’s house)
would recite sad prayers with the other priests and the people
would answer with equally sad prayers which expressed humanity's
fear of the unknown, that's why the high priest would head every
day to the Eesagila asking for Mardukh's forgiveness, begging
him to protect Babylon, his holy city. This prayer was called
the "The Secret Of Easagila". |
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4th Day: The same
rituals would be followed as in the previous three days then at
night the Epic of Creation "Enuma Elish" (when in the
highest) would be recited, telling the story of how the universe
and the four seasons were created, then how all gods united in
god Mardukh following his victory over Tiamat the dragon. The
recitation of this Epic was considered the beginning of
preparations for the submission of the king of Babylon before
Mardukh on the fifth day of Akitu. |
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5th Day: The submission
of the king of Babylon before Mardukh. The king would enter to
the Easagila accompanied by the priests, they would approach all
together the altar where the high priest of the Eesagila
impersonates Mardukh then he approaches the king, begins to
strip him of his jewelry, scepter and even his crown then he
would slap him hard while the latter would kneel and begins to
pray asking for Mardukh's forgiveness and submitting to him
saying: "I have not sinned O Lord of the universe, and I
haven't neglected your heavenly might at all"... Then the
priest in the role of Mardukh says: "Don't be afraid of
what Mardukh has to say, for he will hear your prayers, extends
your power, and increases the greatness of your reign".
After this the king would stand up and the priest would give him
back his jewelry, scepter and crown then slaps him hard again
hoping for the king to shed tears, because that would express
more the submission to Mardukh and respect to his power. When
the priest returns the crown to the king that means his power
was renewed by Mardukh, thus April would be considered not only
the revival of nature and life but also to the State as well.
Thus, these ceremonies would make the greatest and most feared
personalities of that time (kings of Babylon and Nineveh) submit
to the greatest god , and live a humbling moment with all the
population, sharing prayers to prove their faith before the
might of God. Following his presence in his earthly home Babylon
and renewing its king's power, god Mardukh stays in the
"nether world mountain" (a tower composed of seven
floors, known in the Torah as the Tower of Babylon) where was
Mardukh's dwelling or the Easagila (in the Torah God would dwell
on a "mountain" Psalms 74:2). During this day
according to the tradition of Akitu, Mardukh would enter his
dwelling and is surprised by the evil gods who will fight him,
then he's taken prisoner and awaits for arrival of his son god
Nabu who would save him from "Nought" and restores his
glory. |
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6th Day: The arrival of
god Nabu in boats accompanied by his assistants of brave gods
coming from Nippur, Uruk , Kish and Eridu (cities in the south
of today's Iraq). [The gods accompanying Nabu would be
represented by statues which would be mounted on boats made
especially for the occasion]. Here the people in huge numbers
would begin their walk behind their king towards the Easagila
where Mardukh is held prisoner, chanting the following
:"Here's he who's coming from far to restore the glory of
our imprisoned father". |
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7th Day: On the third
day of his imprisonment Nabu frees Mardukh. The evil gods had
closed a huge gate behind him when he entered his dwelling.
Mardukh would be fighting till Nabu's arrival ,when he would
break in the huge gate and a battle would go on between the two
groups, until Nabu comes out victorious and frees Mardukh. |
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8th Day : When Mardukh
is set free, the statues of the gods are gathered in the
Destinies Hall "Upshou Ukkina", to deliberate his
destiny, there it's decided to join all the forces of the gods
and bestow them upon Mardukh. Here, the king implores all the
gods to support and honour Mardukh, and this tradition was an
indication that Mardukh received submission from all the gods
and was unique in his position. |
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9th Day: The victory
procession to the "House of Akitu" where Mardukh's
victory in the beginning of Creation over the dragon Tiamat
(goddess of the nether waters) is celebrated. The House of Akitu
which the Assyrians of Nineveh called "Bet Ekribi"
(“House of Prayers” in old Assyrian language), was about 200
meters outside the city's walls, where there were wonderful
trees decorated and watered carefully out of respect to the god
who's considered the one to grant nature its life. The victory
procession was the population's way to express its joy at
Mardukh's (Ashur) renewal of power and the destruction of evil
forces which almost controlled life in the beginning. |
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10th Day: Arriving at
"Bet Akitu", god Mardukh begins to celebrate with both
the upper and nether world gods (the statues of gods were
arranged around a huge table such as in a feast) then Mardukh
returns to the city at night celebrating his marriage to goddess
"Ishtar" where earth and heaven are united, and as the
gods unite so is this union arranged on earth. Thus the king
personifies this union by playing the role of marrying the
highest priestess of the Eesagila where they would both sit at
the throne before the population and they recite special poems
for the occasion. This love is going to bring forth life in
spring. |
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11th Day: The gods
return accompanied by their Lord Mardukh (Ashur) to meet again
in the Destinies Hall "Upshu Ukkina", where they met
for the first time on the eight day, this time they will decide
the fate of the people of Mardukh (Ashur). In ancient Assyrian
philosophy Creation in general was considered as a covenant
between heaven and earth as long as a human serves the gods till
his death, therefore, gods' happiness isn't complete except if
humans are happy as well, thus a human's destiny will be to be
given happiness on the condition that he serves the gods. So
Mardukh and the gods renew their covenant with Babylon then he
returns to his upper house (Heaven). |
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12th Day: The last day
of Akitu. The gods return to Mardukh's temple (the statues are
returned to the temple) and daily life resumes in Babylon,
Nineveh ... and the rest of the Assyrian cities. |
It was a tradition for the kings of Nineveh to visit Babylon and share their brethren celebrating Akitu, thus we see king Sargon II in one of his inscriptions telling about his visits to Babylon saying: "In Babylon I joyfully entered the house of the Lord of gods, the Easagila, and my face was lit up with happiness, I held my great Lord Mardukh's hand and we walked together to the "House of Akitu", also many gods came from different places to share in a huge procession, with goddess Ishtar and her servants who played the reed pipes and brought joy to Babylon".
The Assyrian mythology influenced also neighbouring peoples, especially because the Assyrian culture expanded to the Arameans and
Phoenicians (Arameans of the coast) and even the Greeks. The legend of Dimuzi and Ishtar passed to neighbouring peoples, thus the Assyrian god Dimuzi became Adonis for the Phoenicians and Greeks, while the Aramaeans called him Tammuz, and he became one of the Hebrews' gods (Ezekiel 8:14). Ishtar became Ashtarout for the Phoenicians and "Heavens Aphrodite" for the Greeks, and "Heavens Queen" for Hebrews (Jeremiah 7:18 - 44:17 and chapters 19-25). Then Arshkigal the goddess of death became the Greek “Perciphonee”... Also April wasn't only considered the first month of the year in Assyria only, but the idea spread to
Hatti (Syria), Phoenicia and Judea (Esther 9:1) and the Zoroastrians celebrated it since the seventh century B.C. and called it “Nuw-Ruz” (The New Day).
Even though Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 B.C, the Assyrians kept their beliefs even during Alexander's time and also during the rule of his
successors (331-126 B.C). During this time The Babylonian historian
Berossos (Bar Aasha) compiled Babylon's history from 3600 B.C to the rule of Alexander in his famous book "Babyloniaca" in three volumes and he wrote it in Greek responding to a request from king Antiochus II who ruled Babylon(261-247 B.C) Berossos taught as well in Athens where he composed the book of "Wisdom". He was respected by the Greeks who sculptured a statue of him in his honour and made its tongue of gold. It's worthy here mentioning that Berossos during his days was the priest of the Easagila (Mardukh's House). The book "Babyloniaca" became a source of learning to the Greeks, following the letters of Herodotus and Alexander, the Greeks obtained a lot of the Assyrian sciences in the fields of religion, astrology, time measurement, calculation and mathematics, the most important one being that of Euclid in mathematical geometry which is taught till today in schools and universities around the world because it's considered as one of the basis in the science of mathematics.
B- April Festivities A.D.
(Some Assyrian festivals inherited since the Assyrian Empire)
The new testament mentions that the Apostle Peter visited Babylon and established a church there( I Peter 5:13).The Assyrians were the first to embrace Christianity for they found in Christ's person the "Saviour" that they celebrated for, and also the new faith had many similarities with the religion of their forefathers:
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The Oneness of the unseen God. |
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The tradition in the Land of Ashur about
Mardukh (Ashur) who descends to earth and battles evil, then he's imprisoned in the earthly mountain and liberated on the third day thus life resumes with a new covenant and as we have seen
Mardukh (Ashur) was imprisoned by the evil gods on the fifth and liberated on the seventh day (that is on the third day of his imprisonment). |
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We have noticed that in Babylon the king would take over the role of Mardukh's servant during "Akitu" while in the Assyrian inscriptions it's noticed that on the sixth day of Akitu, the king of Nineveh's role differs from that of his Babylonian brother, whereby the king takes over the role if the hero
Ninurta (Storm God) who revenges for Ashur and saves him after three days, exactly as Christ The Lord conquered death on the third day during a strong "Storm". It's noticed that death in ancient philosophy, especially that of Assyria, was considered as a form of imprisonment. |
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The beginning of Spring following Christ's Resurrection, as Spring begins when Mardukh (Ashur) is freed from darkness. |
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Mardukh's return to his upper
house (Heaven) after his liberation and meeting with the gods (11th Day) just as Christ ascended to heaven following His Resurrection, then later meeting His Apostles. |
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The existence for the Babylonians of the idea of a holy trinity which was composed of Ea (god of the seas and Mardukh's father),
Anu (god of heavens) and Enlil (god of the atmosphere and earth). |
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Baptism in Christianity, where the idea of cleansing sins inherited from "Nusard-El" which was considered as a tradition of sprinkling water in the path of god
Dimouzi. This tradition had a great part during Akitu along side celebrating
Mardukh's (Ashur) freedom, the Assyrians would sprinkle each other with water to wash away their sins before welcoming god Dimouzi after his liberation from Arshkigal the goddess of death. The Assyrians still celebrate this tradition till today by sprinkling water on each other and in the streets. This day known also as "Nusardel" has special prayers in the Assyrian
Churches. On the other hand we notice the famous phrase of St. John the Baptist while he was washing people in River of Jordan: "Repent
Ye: For the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). |
Many Assyrian and non-Assyrian clergy admit to these similarities but not in public, however, at the altar the Torah is considered the book that tells about the New Testament, and that is to preserve an old Church tradition which was followed considering the Torah as a prophecy to the coming of Christ. This tradition began in the Church of the East in the first centuries A.D at the schools of
Urhai (Edessa) and Nisibin (Nisibis) which were considered as the oldest "Universities" in the world, Also the western Churches considered the Torah as a prelude to the Christian religion. However, the Torah contributed to distorting history by presenting the Assyrians as an impious and unfavoured people, while on the other hand it glorified Jews presenting them as a pious, tortured people and this
played an important role in addition to the Holocaust during WWII, to establish the State of Israel in the 20th century.
Although the Assyrians gave up their Akitu celebrations in favour of their Christian faith, but they still considered April as the month of renewal and resurgence, even though it became more simple, for till recently in the Assyrian villages girls would gather bunches of flowers and herbs on April First and they would suspend them under the house's roof, as a joyful expression to the arrival of the month of plenty and the revival of life and
nature. These bunches were called "Deqna D'Nissan" (April's Beard). Also the villagers would gather their children in pairs of brides and grooms, then those children would visit every house, where they would be offered different sorts of sweets and these visits would last till night fall then they would gather to share and eat a popular meal which would be made especially for the occasion, this tradition had its roots in the tenth day of Akitu when god Ashur would marry goddess Ishtar before they ascend to heaven on the eleventh day, this same day was acted on earth on the part of the king and the highest priestess as mentioned before, and this feast is known recently
as "Kalou D'Soulaqa" (Ascension's Bride).
However, with the resurgence of political parties within the modern Assyrian national movement it was decided to celebrate the Assyrian New Year on April First (the 10th or the 12th of Akitu according to the equinox) so the celebrations took a special tradition of public processions, festivals, patriotic and traditional songs, where the celebrants gather in every country in great numbers and go out to the fields where nature renews itself. April First is considered a nationalistic celebration for we rarely see an Assyrian who doesn't celebrate it. This day along with Assyrian Martyr's Day (August 07th) [An-Nahar newspaper 09/08/2001] are considered to be as national duties for all Assyrians wherever they are, as an occasion to affirm the modern Assyrian existence, whereby the Assyrian New Year became a point of continuation for the Assyrian national identity over the centuries inspite of all the persecutions which the Assyrians faced beginning with the Fall of Nineveh (612 B.C) then the Fall of Babylon(539 B.C) followed by religious persecutions when they embraced Christianity, then the organized massacres of the 20th century in Turkey and Iran during WWI 1915-1918 and the political persecutions in Iraq 1920-1933 and even today's continuous persecutions and the policy of Arabization &
Kurdification, under the Iraqi regime and the government of the so-called "Province Of Kurdistan" noting that both
regimes are founded on the ruins of Assyrian monuments.
The Assyrians of today still keep many of the ancient festivals which they inherited from their forefathers even if they are celebrated in simpler ways, for some of the celebrations (Nusardel, Nineveh Fast…) became a part of the liturgical celebrations for the Assyrian people, thus distinguishing them once again from their neighbours, for these festivals are celebrated distinctively by the Assyrians and the Church played a great role in preserving some of the Assyrian traditions over the centuries. However, the joys of these celebrations have diminished in Assyrian villages due to the instability and oppressive practices towards the Assyrians where they are facing a war of eradication on their identity in their own homeland, which
increased the rate of migration. Moreover, the Assyrians' association with peoples who have different cultures whether in
Diaspora or in Assyria where they live in areas far from each other, where
obviously there are plans to disperse their identity within the Arab and Kurdish majorities. |