Assyrian culture
Encyclopedia
Celebrations
Throughout the years, Assyrians celebrate many different kinds of traditions within their communities, with the majority of the traditions being tied to religion some way. Some include feastsCalendar of saints
The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the feast day of said saint...
(Syriac: hareh) for different patron saints, the Nineveh Rogation (Syriac: Bo'utho d-Ninwoye/Ba'uta d-Ninwaye), Ascension day (Syriac: Kaalu d-Sulaqa), and the most popular, the Assyrian New Year
Assyrian new year
Assyrian new year may refer to* Akitu, the Assyrian-Babylonian new year festival.* Assyrian New Year, an Assyrian nationalist festival reintroduced in the 1950s...
(Syriac: Ha b-Nison/Kha b-Nisan)
Some of these traditions have been practiced by the Assyrians for well over 1,500 years.
Premta d'Simele; Martyr's Day
The Simele massacre (SyriacSyriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
: : Premta d-Simele) was the first of many massacres committed by the Iraqi government during the systematic targeting of Assyrian
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
of Northern Iraq in August 1933. The killing spree that continued among 63 Assyrian villages in the Dohuk and Mosul districts, led to the deaths of an estimated 3,000 Assyrians.
August 7 officially became known as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory for the Simele massacre, as it was declared so by the Assyrian Universal Alliance
Assyrian Universal Alliance
Assyrian Universal Alliance is an ethnic Assyrian umbrella organization in the Middle East. The Assyrian Universal Alliance is an international alliance made up of different sectors of the Assyrian federations and organisations throughout the world. Mr...
in 1970. In 2004, the Syrian government
Politics of Syria
Politics in the Syrian Arab Republic takes place in the framework of what is officially a parliamentary republic, but what is considered an authoritarian government where the power is in the hands of the President of Syria, his family, the ruling Ba'ath Party, and the Alawi sect.The two presidents...
banned the Assyrian political organization and the Assyrian community of Syria from commemorating the event, and threatened arrests if any were to break the ban.
On August 7, Assyrians in the homeland and in the diaspora get together in local community clubs get together and share poems about the incident, revial new art work, etc.
Kha B'Nisan; New Year
Kha b-Nisan
Kha b' Nisan or Ha b' Nisin, also Ha b' Nison; "First of April", Resha d'Sheta; "Head of the year" in Syriac, also known as Akitu, or Assyrian New Year is the spring festival among the Assyrians, celebrated on 1 April....
(Literally Translated as the first of April), is celebrated on 1 April.
After the formation of the Turkish state
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Khab Nissan along with the Kurdish Newrouz were banned from public to celebrate. Assyrians in Turkey were first allowed to publicly celebrate kha b-nissan in 2006, after organisers received permission from the government to stage the event, in light of democratic reforms adopted in support of Turkey's EU membership bid.
Som Baoutha; Nineveh Feast
The Nineveh Feast (Syriac: Baoutha d-Ninwaye) is a three-day celebration that is composed of prayers and fasting that Assyrians of Church of the EastAssyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, the Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
The Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
, the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
, and the Syriac Catholic Church
Syriac Catholic Church
The Syriac Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians...
(as well as The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...
in India) consider sacred. The word Bo'utho/Ba'uta is an Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
word for "pleading", and from this meaning we receive the title of this commemoration.
This annual observance occurs exactly 3 weeks before the start of lent. This tradition has been practiced by the Syriac Christians since the 6th century.
In the 6th century, a plague inflicted the Northern regions of modern day Iraq or what was called at the time, Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
. The plague was devastating the city and the villages surrounding it, and out of desperation the people ran to their bishop to find a solution. The bishop sought help through the scriptures and came upon the story of Jonah
Jonah
Jonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
in the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
.
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
sent the prophet Jonah to warn the city of Nineveh of great destruction unless they repent for their sins or as it is directly quoted: "the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amathi, saying: Arise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it: for the wickedness thereof is come up before me." Jonah did not wish for Nineveh to be saved since they (the people of Nineveh) were the enemies of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and preferred Nineveh to be destroyed. Instead of listening to God Jonah fled to Tarshish (modern day Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), across the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. During his voyage a violent storm occurred. The other sailors feared the boat would be completely destroyed and kill everyone if they did not get rid of Jonah. So they decided to throw Jonah overboard. As soon as Jonah hit the water, a giant fish swallowed Jonah whole. Jonah found himself in the dark, in stomach of the fish. Jonah began to pray earnestly for God to save him. For three days and nights Jonah prayed and asked for forgiveness for his disobedience. On the third night the fish became violently ill and swam near to the seashore where it vomited Jonah onto the beach. Jonah thankful that he had been spared started on the journey to Nineveh. Reaching the walls of Nineveh, he began preaching to people as he walked through its streets, "In forty days God will destroy this city because of your great sins." The king of Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
became disturbed at the message that Jonah preached. He called his people together and commanded them to wear sackcloth clothing and to let neither man nor animals eat as the people prayed and repented of their wicked ways. All of the people of the city cried and prayed and asked God to forgive them for their sins. The city then was not destroyed.
Upon looking at the story the bishop therefore ordered a 3-day fast to ask for God's forgiveness. At the end of the 3-day fast, the plague had miraculously stopped, therefore, on the 4th day the people rejoiced.
To this day, Assyrians of both faiths, Catholic and Orthodox, both in their original lands and in the diaspora, still observe the fast 3 days each year.
Somikka; Holy Halloween
Somikka shares some common themes with the American festival of HalloweenHalloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, but its meaning is very much different. The main purpose of Somikka is to motivate and discipline Assyrian children to fast during Lent. This is done by scaring children into the discipline of observing lent, when people would abstain from eating eggs, meat and any dairy or animal products for the seven weeks preceding Easter.
The evening before the fast began, or what is called "Somikka night" (Assyrian: Laleh d'Somikka), small groups of young men would dress in scary Halloween like clothes, wearing masks and also carry accessories such as wooden swords and shields.
These men then would knock on Assyrian homes and scare the children into fasting. The parents in return would give the "Somikka" money (food items in the old times) and tell their children that this was to bribe Somikka off them. They would also warn them that if they broke their fast during Lent, Somikka would come and stick their in their mouths. To the permissive Western mind, this might seem a little abusive, or even cruel. But in the Eastern World
Eastern world
__FORCETOC__The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of Eastern Asia or geographically the Eastern Culture...
, discipline was the hallmark of raising children to grow up into God-fearing and upright adults.
Assyrian Villages in Urmia
Urmia
- Demographics :According to official census of 2006, the population of Urmia is about 871,204.- Language :The population of Urmia is mainly Azerbaijani people, with Kurdish, Assyrian Christian, and Armenian minorities...
had another custom relating to Lent. The head of every family would stick seven colored feathers into a large onion, the feathers representing the seven weeks of fasting. He would then tie the feathered onion with a string and hang it from the ceiling of their living room, where it would spin every time there was a draft when the door was opened. This attracted attention and served to remind the children of the fast. Every Sunday night he would remove, ceremoniously, one feather to indicate that one week of fasting was over, until all the feathers were gone by Easter night, the last day of fasting, before celebrating the Lord’s Resurrection.The city is a very small area.
Kalu d'Sulaqa; Bride of the Ascension
The legend of Kalu d’Sulaqa/Kaltho d'Suloqo tells of a young Malik Shalita, governor of the Assyrian homeland’s capital Mosul, who was first noticed by Tamerlane after he had successfully fought and defeated his initial attack on the city. The battle is then described as Assyrian freedom fighters, both Christian and Muslim, defended against the Mongolian attack.It was during this time that, according to legend, Malik Shalita’s wife organized Assyrian women dressed in white, and was given the responsibility to collect provisions from the nearby towns in order to feed the men fighting at the front. Having heard of the fate that had befallen their countrymen in Tikrit and Mardin, they knew very well the fate in store for them if they were to lose this battle. Instead of running and hiding the women prepared for the battle and joined the ranks of the defenders against hopeless odds.
The historical account is in keeping with the legend, as both describe a brutal battle of attrition, in which both men and women joined together and defended themselves against Tamerlane’s attack. Malik Shalita and his wife - according to the legend dressed in white – are recorded as having been killed in this fateful battle.
The Assyrian historian Arsanous states that the young boys and girls represent the dead young men and women who ascended to heaven because they died for the cause of Christianity and in defence of their homeland. The tragic nature of the 1401 event had left such a indelible impression on the minds of the survivors that they remembered the final battle and have honoured the memory of the fallen by re-enacting the camaraderie of the Assyrian men and women who died defending their homeland.
There are many traditional practices that Assyrians observe when celebrating Kalu Sulaqa (Ascension Day). Most commonly, in Hakkari, prior to the First World War, girls in each village would gather and choose the prettiest one among them to be the Kalu d- Sulaqa / Kaltho d-Suloqo (the Bride of the Ascension) for that year. She would be dressed in a traditional Assyrian wedding costume and then paraded around the village singing and asking for gawzeh w-kishmeesheh/yabeesheh (walnuts and raisins), which they would then share amongst themselves in a feast held afterwards in honour of the ‘bride’.
Assyrians would celebrate this day like any other “Shahra / Shahro”, with music, dancing, food and drink - but also a few differences. Apart from the little girls dressed as brides there was also a peculiar custom practiced by Assyrians living in Hakkari, whereby ropes were tied to strong branches of large trees common to that district. After this was done, all those present would attempt to climb one, and any not doing so would mean bad luck for them, while anyone reaching the end of the rope and the branch would have the best of luck for the coming year. This was done to represent the Ascension of Christ into Heaven and the eventual resurrection of the dead and final judgment. This custom is seldom practiced today apart from certain areas in the northernmost extremities of Iraq.
In Urmi, on the other hand, it was customary for the little girls in the villages to dress as brides and when doing their rounds of their villages would also ask for pennies or trinkets - although this is only a reflection of the generally greater wealth of the Assyrians in the plains of that region.
It is also said that the very same custom was used during fierce battles. Young girls, dressed as brides, were ordered to take provisions to the men fighting on the battlefield. Their mothers, knowing that they may never return, used this custom to instill courage in their young daughters.
In Syria young girls and boys would join together and form a couple, dressed as bride and a groom, and then go from door to door, singing. They were usually rewarded, not with money or candy, but rather people would give pirdha (wheat), rice, fruits, and so on, then at the end the children would go out to a field to cook and eat what they had collected on the day.
This custom, peculiar to members of the Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church, survives in these communities worldwide and is always marked by a party, often women only. It is also a new custom to hold a mock wedding reception. It is held just like any other traditional Assyrian wedding reception - khigga, slow dance, dinner, cake and all, the only difference being that the Bride, Groom, Best-Man and Matron-of-Honour are all young girls.
Marriage rituals
Assyrian rituals consist of many different types of elements that have shaped today's modern rituals for the past 3,000 years. An Assyrian wedding traditionally lasted a week and consisted of different rituals for each day. Today, weddings in the Assyrian homeland usually last for 2 to 3 days while Assyrian weddings in the diaspora go for 1 or 2 days.The Blanket Ritual
A week before the Marriage all the women of the neighbourhood and the women in the family go to house of the bride and make her a very big honeymoon blanket. Everybody had to make sure they sewed a bit of that blanket. So the needle would be passed from one woman to the other and this way all the women sewed a bit. The younger women would dance around it and the older women would sing and do the dabke. During the party food and sweets are served, and the party ends when the blanket was done.This ritual is mostly observed by Assyrians in Syria.
The Washing of the Groom
Also referred to as khyapta d'khitna or zyapta d'khitna. Before the wedding all the men in the neighbourhood and the men who are related to the groomgo to his house and they cut his hair and shave his face. The groom's male relatives give a him a good scrubbing from head to toe, cleaning him of evilness. A young boy is usually bathed first, typically by his mother or aunts, then the groom takes a shower or bath afterwards.
M'Pulata d'Chalo
A tradition symbolic of the bride leaving the home of her parents. Usually the bride is in her home taking pictures with family and the groom's family visits to take her out of the home and to the church. While in the house, the women sing tradition lilyaneh and dola and zurna is played as they dance. Before the bride leaves the house, a member of the bride's family usually a cousin, niece/nephew,uncle/aunty etc... stands at the door and receives an amount of money from a member of the grooms family usually a Father, or brother, the amount is decided by who's holding the door.Burakha
The wedding tradition where the bride and groom are blessed by a priest in a church. The burakha traditionally lasted about four hours, but more recently the event goes for about one hour. Pins in the shape of two crosses are usually placed on the groom's back. There are some details during the ceremony that differ from village to village. The Assyrians of the village of Baz are known to have someone poke the groom with a needle to ward off any evil spirits while Assyrian from the village of Tyari make noise with the cutting motion of scissors to ward off evil spirits. At the end of the burakha as the bride and groom are coming out of the church, dola and zorna is played while rice, candies, and coins are thrown at the bride and groom and people take part in traditional Assyrian dances.Henna
HennaHenna
Henna is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The name is also used for dye preparations derived from the plant, and for the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes...
is mud-like material that is prepared on the day before the wedding. On night for the wedding, in the old days all the ladies would gather at the house of the bride (but nowadays it's mixed, also male relatives and family friends are invited.) A bowl is filled with henna. Henna is celebrated differently throughout the Assyrian community.
In some areas, whoever holds the bowl with the henna will dance with it around the others.
The groom and bride put in the bowl their little finger and their little finger will be wrapped and connected to each other by a ribbon.
In other areas, everyone is given a turn to wrap his finger with henna, and after everyone, the person that is getting henna in his hand starts the chant of praise for the future couple, as everyone else follows him.
Burial Rituals
The Burial Rituals of the Assyrians is described by Surma D'Bait Mar ShimunSurma D'Bait Mar Shimun
Lady Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun was the sister of the Catholics Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East and leader of the Assyrians, Mar Shimun XXI Benyamin.-Biography:...
and the manner by which Assyrians of the highland cared for their dead relatives resemble what Olmsted wrote about how the ancient Assyrian cared for theirs.
Surma wrote: "In some districts-as in Tkhuma for instance - food is also placed on the graves and in this valley the graves are often made with a little niche in the side of them both for this purpose and for the putting of the light."
About the burial customs of the ancient Assyrians Olmsted writes: "always the lamp was left in a niche, and even the smoke can still be seen. A large water jar, a jug, and several dishes formed the remainder of the equipment needed for the after-life..."
Surma further adds; On the morning of the resurrection day before day light Assyrians in the highland visited the graves of their loved ones and lighted tapers on their resting site. The usual greeting at this time was "light to your departed".