Assyrian culture

Last updated March 09, 2024

The culture of the Assyrians is both distinct from those of neighbouring ethnic groups as well as ancient. Many Assyrians (estimates of fluent speakers range from 500,000) still speak, read and write various Akkadian-influenced dialects of Eastern Aramaic, labelled by linguists as Northeastern Neo-Aramaic and Central Neo-Aramaic. They are predominantly adherents of several denominations of Syriac Christianity,^[1] notably the Ancient Church of the East, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church. Some are followers of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church. A minority are secular or irreligious.

Annual celebrations

Assyrians celebrate many different kinds of traditions within their communities, with the majority of Assyrian traditions being tied to Christianity. A number include feast days (Syriac: hareh) for different patron saints, the Rogation of the Ninevites (ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝ̈ܐ, Baʿutha d-Ninwaye), Ascension Day (Kalo d-Sulaqa), and the most popular, the Kha b-Nisan (ܚܕ ܒܢܝܣܢ, 'First of April'). Some of these traditions have been practised by the Assyrians for well over 1,500 years.

Yawma d-Sahdhe ('Martyrs Day')

The Simele massacre (ܦܪܡܬܐ ܕܣܡܠܐ, Pramta d-Simmele) was the first of many massacres committed by the Iraqi government during the systematic targeting of the Assyrians of northern Iraq in August 1933. The killing spree that continued among 63 Assyrian villages in the Dohuk and Nineveh districts led to the deaths of an estimated 3,000 Assyrians.^[2]^[3]

August 7 became known as Martyrs Day (ܝܘܡܐ ܕܣܗܕ̈ܐ, Yawma d-Sahdhe) or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory of the Simele massacre as it was declared by the Assyrian Universal Alliance in 1970. In 2004, the Syrian government 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.^[4]

Resha d-Nisan ('Start of Spring' or 'Assyrian New Year')

The Assyrian new year festival, known as Resha d-Nisan (literally 'Head of April'), is celebrated on the first day of spring and continues for 12 days.

Celebrations involve holding parades and parties, gathering in clubs and social institutions and listening to poets reciting "the Story of Creation."^{[ citation needed ]} The men and women wear traditional clothes and dance in parks for hours.

After the formation of the Turkish state in the 1920s, Resha d-Nisan along with the Kurdish Nowruz were banned from being celebrated in public. Assyrians in Turkey were first allowed to publicly celebrate Resha d-Nisan 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.^[5]

Kalo d-Sulaqa ('Bride of the Ascension')

The legend of Kalo d-Sulaqa 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 freedom fighters, both Christian and Muslim, defended against the Mongol attack.

It was during this time that, according to legend, Malik Shalita's wife organised 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 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 unfavourable 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 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 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 an 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. However, those who managed to survive the massacres also in Baghdad were forced to flee into the Zagros Mountains.^[6]^[7]

There are many traditional practises that Assyrians observe when celebrating Kalo d-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 Kalo d-Sulaqa ('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 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 feast, with music, dancing, food and drink, but also with a few differences. Apart from the little girls dressed as brides, there was also a custom practised by Assyrians living in Hakkari, where ropes were tied to strong branches of large trees. 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 Jesus and the eventual resurrection of the dead and final judgement. This custom is seldom practised 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. This is 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 and form a couple, dressed as bride and groom, and then go from door to door, singing. They were usually rewarded, not with money or candy, but with wheat, rice, fruits, and so on. At the end of the day, the children would go out to a field to cook and eat what they had collected.

This custom, particular to members of the Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church, survives in these communities worldwide and is marked by a party, often women only. It is also a new custom to hold a mock wedding reception complete with khigga, slow dance, dinner, and cake, the only difference being that the bride, groom, best man and maid of honour are all young girls.^[8]

Marriage rituals

Niqda ('Bridewealth')

Bridewealth is commonly practised, even among those who reside in the Western world. The tradition would involve the bridegroom's family paying the father of the bride. The amount of money of the bridewealth is reached by negotiation between groups of people from both families. The social state of the groom's family influences the amount of the bridewealth that is ought to be paid. When the matter is settled to the contentment of both menages, the groom's father may kiss the hand of the bride's father to express his chivalrous regard and gratitude.^[9]

Burakha ('Blessing')

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. To ward off evil spirits, the Assyrians of Baz are known to have someone poke the groom with a needle to ward off any evil spirits while Assyrians from Tyari make noise with the cutting motion of scissors.^[10]

Funeral rituals

Traditional

The burial rituals of the Assyrians is described by Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun 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."^[11] 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 ..."^[12] 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".^[11]

Contemporary

In the modern tradition, the mourning family host guests in an open house-style just after a loved one passes away. Only bitter coffee and tea are served, showcasing the sorrowful state of the family. Symbolically, some will not drink the coffee in front of them at all. On the funeral day, a memorial mass is held in the church. At the graveyard, the people gather and burn incense around the grave as clergy chant hymns in the Syriac language. The closest female relatives traditionally bewail or lament (bilyaya) in a public display of grief, with some beating their chest, as the casket descends. Other women may sing a dirge or a sentimental threnody (jnana, which are short, rhymed chants) to passionately heighten the mood of the mourning at the cemetery, similar to an Indian oppari. Zurna and dola may be played if the departed is a young, unmarried male.^[13]

During all these occasions, everyone is expected to dress in complete black, passively informing the community that they have recently buried a loved one. Following the burial, everyone would return to the church hall for afternoon lunch and eulogy. At the hall, the closest relatives sit on a long table facing the guests (akin to a bridegroom's table at a wedding) as many people walk by before leaving shaking hands, offering their condolences. At the hall, dates and halva may served to offer some "sweetness" in the bitter grieving period. On the third day, mourners would customarily visit the grave site with a pastor to burn incense, symbolising Jesus' triumph over death on the third day, and 40 days after the funeral (representing Jesus ascending to heaven), and in conclusion one year to the date. Mourners also wear only black until the 40 day mark, with no jewellery and would typically not dance or celebrate any major events for one year.^[14]

Assyrian cuisine

Assyrian cuisine is the cuisine of the indigenous ethnic Assyrian people, Eastern Aramaic-speaking Syriac Christians of Iraq,^[15] northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey. Assyrian cuisine is primarily identical to Iraqi/Mesopotamian cuisine, as well as being very similar to other Middle Eastern and Caucasian cuisines, as well as Greek cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Turkish cuisine, Iranian cuisine, Israeli cuisine, and Armenian cuisine, with most dishes being similar to the cuisines of the area in which those Assyrians live/originate from.^[16] It is rich in grains such as barley, meat, tomato, herbs, spices, cheese, and potato as well as fermented dairy products and pickles.^[17]

Related Research Articles

The Syriac language, also known as Assyrian Language, Syriac Aramaic and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ, is an Aramaic language. The terms “Syriac”, and when used in ancient context, “Syrian”, are translations of Assyrian. The language is a dialect that emerged during the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East. As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, it gained a prominent role among Eastern Christian communities that used both Eastern Syriac and Western Syriac rites. Following the spread of Syriac Christianity, it also became a liturgical language of eastern Christian communities as far as India and China. It flourished from the 4th to the 8th century, and continued to have an important role during the next centuries, but by the end of the Middle Ages it was gradually reduced to liturgical use, since the role of vernacular language among its native speakers was overtaken by several emerging Neo-Aramaic dialects.

Assyrians are an indigenous ethnic group native to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians claim descent from Ancient Mesopotamians such as ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, originating from the ancient indigenous Mesopotamians of Akkad and Sumer, who first developed the civilisation in northern Mesopotamia that would become Assyria in 2600 BCE. Modern Assyrians may culturally self-identify as Syriacs, Chaldeans, or Arameans for religious, geographic, and tribal identification.

The Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE), sometimes called the Church of the East and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (HACACE), is an Eastern Christian church that follows the traditional Christology and ecclesiology of the historical Church of the East. It belongs to the eastern branch of Syriac Christianity, and employs the Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari belonging to the East Syriac Rite. Its main liturgical language is Classical Syriac, a dialect of Eastern Aramaic, and the majority of its adherents are ethnic Assyrians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alqosh</span> Town in Nineveh, Iraq

Alqosh is a town in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq, a sub-district of the Tel Kaif District situated 45 km north of the city of Mosul.

The Arameans, or Aramaeans, were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East that was first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BC. The Aramean homeland, sometimes known as the land of Aram, encompassed central regions of modern Syria.

The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syriac Rite in the Syriac dialect of the Aramaic language, it is part of Syriac Christianity. Headquartered in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq, since 1950, it is headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako. In 2010, it had a membership of 490,371, of whom 310,235 (63.27%) lived in the Middle East.

Suret, also known as Assyrian refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by Christians, namely Assyrians. The various NENA dialects descend from Old Aramaic, the lingua franca in the later phase of the Assyrian Empire, which slowly displaced the East Semitic Akkadian language beginning around the 10th century BC. They have been further heavily influenced by Classical Syriac, the Middle Aramaic dialect of Edessa, after its adoption as an official liturgical language of the Syriac churches, but Suret is not a direct descendant of Classical Syriac.

The Assyrian homeland, Assyria, refers to the homeland of the Assyrian people within which Assyrian civilisation developed, located in their indigenous Upper Mesopotamia. The territory that forms the Assyrian homeland is, similarly to the rest of Mesopotamia, currently divided between present-day Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria. In Iran, the Urmia Plain forms a thin margin of the ancestral Assyrian homeland in the north-west, and the only section of the Assyrian homeland beyond the Mesopotamian region. The majority of Assyrians in Iran currently reside in the capital city, Tehran.

Asoristan was the name of the Sasanian province of Assyria and Babylonia from 226 to 637.

The Christians of Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaldean Catholics</span> Adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church

Chaldean Catholics, also known as Chaldeans, Chaldo-Assyrians or Assyro-Chaldeans, are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, which originates from the historic Church of the East.

Terms for Syriac Christians are endonymic (native) and exonymic (foreign) terms, that are used as designations for Syriac Christians, as adherents of Syriac Christianity. In its widest scope, Syriac Christianity encompass all Christian denominations that follow East Syriac Rite or West Syriac Rite, and thus use Classical Syriac as their main liturgical language. Traditional divisions among Syriac Christians along denominational lines are reflected in the use of various theological and ecclesiological designations, both historical and modern. Specific terms such as: Jacobites, Saint Thomas Syrian Christians, Maronites, Melkites, Nasranis, and Nestorians have been used in reference to distinctive groups and branches of Eastern Christianity, including those of Syriac liturgical and linguistic traditions. Some of those terms are polysemic, and their uses have been a subject of terminological disputes between different communities, and also among scholars.

Assyrian nationalism is a movement of the Assyrian people that advocates for independence or autonomy within the regions they inhabit in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey.

The Eastern Aramaic languages have historically developed from the varieties of Aramaic that originated in the core territory of Mesopotamia and further expanded into northern Syria, eastern Arabia and northwestern Iran. This is in contrast to the Western Aramaic varieties found predominantly in the southern Levant, encompassing most parts of modern western Syria and Palestine region. Most speakers are Assyrians, although there is a minority of Mizrahi Jews and Mandaeans who also speak varieties of Eastern Aramaic.

The Assyrian Pentecostal Church, is a Reformed Eastern Christian denomination that began in ethnically Assyrian villages across the Urmia region in northwestern Iran, spreading to the Assyrians living in the adjacent cities, and from there to indigenous Assyrian communities in the Assyrian Homeland, northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria.

Assyrian folk/pop music, also known as Assyrian folk-pop or modern Syriac music, is the musical style of the Assyrian people derived from traditional music that includes a broad range of stylistic varieties, which would also encompass fusions of Western genres such as pop, electronic, Latin, jazz and/or classical music, with a melodic basis of Assyrian folk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kha b-Nisan</span> Assyrian New Year

Kha b-Nisan, Ha b-Nisin, or Ha b-Nison, also known as Resha d-Sheta and as Akitu (ܐܟܝܬܘ), or Assyrian New Year, is the spring festival among the indigenous Assyrians of northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran, celebrated on the first day of April.

Assyrian continuity is the study of continuity between the modern Assyrian people, a Semitic indigenous ethnic, religious and linguistic minority in the Middle East, and the people of Ancient Mesopotamia in general and ancient Assyria in particular. Assyrian continuity and Mesopotamian heritage is a key part of the identity of the modern Assyrian people. No archaeological, genetic, linguistic, anthropological or written historical evidence exists of the original Assyrian and Mesopotamian population being exterminated, removed, bred out or replaced in the aftermath of the fall of the Assyrian Empire, modern contemporary scholarship "almost unilaterally" supports Assyrian continuity, recognizing the modern Assyrians as the ethnic, linguistic, historical and genetic descendants of the East Assyrian-speaking population of Bronze Age and Iron Age Assyria specifically, and Mesopotamia in general, which were composed of both the old native Assyrian population and of neighbouring settlers in the Assyrian heartland.

Bride price, bride-dowry, bride-wealth, bride service or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dowry is equivalent to dowry paid to the groom in some cultures, or used by the bride to help establish the new household, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. Some cultures may practice both simultaneously. Many cultures practiced bride dowry prior to existing records.

Ramsha is the Aramaic and East Syriac Rite term for the evening Christian liturgy followed as a part of the seven canonical hours or Divine Office, roughly equivalent to Vespers in Western Christianity. It's also called Ramsho in the West Syriac Rite. It is used in the Syriac churches of the East Syriac tradition, including the Assyrian Church of the East of Iraq, the Ancient Church of the East of Iraq, the East Syriac Saint Thomas Christians of the Malabar coast, Kerala, India, and the Chaldean Catholic Church of Iraq. The Chaldean Catholic and Syro-Malabar Churches are all Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the Catholic Church.

References

↑ Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 206. ISBN 9780313321092. The Assyrians, although closely assiociated with their Christian religion, are divided among a number of Christian sects. The largest denominations are the Chaldean Catholic Church with about 45% of the Assyrian population, the Syriac Orthodox with 26%, the Assyrian Church of the East with 19%, the free Orthodox Church of Antioch or Syriac Catholic Church with 4%, and various Protestant sects with a combined 6%.
↑ International Federation for Human Rights — "Displaced persons in Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraqi refugees in Iran", 2003.
↑ The Origins and Developments of Assyrian Nationalism.
↑ Good Morning Assyria, Zinda Magazine.
↑ Assyrians Celebrate New Year for First Time in Turkey (SETimes.com)
↑ "Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East?". The New York Times. 22 July 2015.
↑ "Is Christianity Doomed in the Middle East?". The New Republic. 31 January 2015.
↑ Aljeloo, Nicholas (May 2001). "Kalu Sulaqa - Customs and Traditions" (PDF). Nakosha: The Assyrian-Australian Youth Publication. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 15, 2004.
↑ Assyrian Rituals of Life-Cycle Events by Yoab Benjamin
↑ "Assyrian Wedding, Chicago, IL". triptych.brynmawr.edu. 1992.
1 2 S urma D 'beit-mar Shimoun, "Assyrian Church Customs and the Murder of Mar Shimoun", Mar Shimoun Memorial Fund 1983 p.40
↑ A.T. Olsmtead, "History of Assyria" The University of Chicago Press 1968 third edition p.625
↑ Assyrian Rituals of Life-Cycle Events by Yoab Benjamin
↑ Troop, Sarah. “The Hungry Mourner.” Modern Loss, 22 Jul 2014. Web. 24 Jan 2016.
↑ Levitt, Aimee. "Enemy Kitchen, a food truck and public art project, serves up hospitality in place of hostility". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
↑ Mandel, Pam (2017-12-05). "An Ancient Empire Gets New Life — on a Food Truck". Jewish in Seattle Magazine. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
↑ Edelstein, Sari, ed. (2011). Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Competency for Culinary, Hospitality, and Nutrition Professionals. Boston, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Learning. pp. 545–552. ISBN 978-0763759650.