New Year Customs In Babylonia

The New Year is regarded as an important celebration. It is infact the oldest of all celebrations. About four thousand years ago the people in ancient Babylonia first observed New Year. The celebrations for the New Year in Babylonia first began with the first new moon and the first day of spring. The people in Babylonia believed the beginning of spring to be a perfect time to celebrate New Year. It was during the springtime that one can do activities like planting new crops and these new crops would blossom.

The New Year in Babylonia was celebrated for eleven days. Each of these eleven days had their own particular mode of celebration.

The people celebrate Akitu, which is the New Year festival in Mesopotamia, during the springtime. The New Year is the perfect time to celebrate the arrival of spring, regeneration of nature and rekindling of the community. The custom of reading out stories of Marduck who is the god heaven and Tiamut goddess of the powers of chaos remind people of the order of the universe.