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April First, the Assyrian New Year |
By:
Assyrian Universal Alliance.
April 1st is the Assyrian New Year. It is the most important
national festival handed down thru history from the remote past.
The Assyrians of today all over the world celebrate this day as
their national festival.
Before the Assyrian embraced Christianity in the first century
A.D., the new year was celebrated on what would be our 21st of
March according to the ancient calendar. This date then and as it
does now is the very beginning of Spring. Centuries before the
fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC. When its power and
civilization spread all over the Middle East. Other nations like
Medes, Persians and Arabs celebrated the 21st of March as the New
Year for all the ancient world.
After the Assyrians converted to Christianity in the first century
and the Gregorian calendar was established in the Christian world,
the Assyrian also accepted the new calendar and they moved their
new year from March 21st to April 1st. Iranians and the people of
iraq (Arabs, Assyrians and Kurds) today celebrate this day on
March 21st. In Iran the New Years Day is called “NoRuz” meaning
“New Day”.
This day was designated as the official national day for Assyrians
all over the world by the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) in
1968. it is the beginning of Spring when nature wakes up from the
winter sleep, and the trees, plants, fields and flowers begin to
bloom again. This means regaining new life to which the Assyrian
forefathers gave a great credit in their philosophy of creation.
Revival and rising from death played a big role in their
mythology.
Assyrians of today celebrate the 1st of April by holding parades
and parties. They also gather in clubs and social institutions and
listen to the poets who recite the story of creation and have a
good time.
Assyrian New Year was the biggest festival in ancient Assyrian and
Babylonian Empires. It started on March 21st which was the first
day of the month (Nissan) and the beginning of the New Year for
the Assyrian calendar.
This festival was celebrated for 12 days. The tablets discovered
and deciphered by the archaeologists explain the festivities
celebrated in those days. In Assyria this festival was the most
important event on the year. People from all over the Empire came
to either the political capital, Nineveh or the religious capital,
Babylon and participated in the celebration. There were elaborate
and magnificent processions to and from the great temple in
Babylon called “Esagila”.
Nowadays the Assyrian New Year falls close to the Easter holidays
which remembers the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ which
ties in the ancient and contemporary history of the Assyrian
people.
Come and celebrated this new day with the Assyrians.
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