Happy Assyrian New Years (6766), Akitu Fest, to Assyrians around the world. Akitu festival is the most important national festival for the Assyrians handed down thru history from the remote past.
The Assyrians of today all over the world celebrate this day as their national festival. Before Assyrians embraced Christianity in the first century A.D., and according to the ancient calendar, the New Year was celebrated on what would be the 21st of March.
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 adopted and 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. Assyrians also accepted the new calendar and moved their New Year from March 21st to April 1st. Today Iranians and people of Iraq (Arabs and Kurds) today celebrate this day on March 21st. In Iran the New Years Day is called “NoRuz” meaning “New Day”.
Today the Assyrian nation is going through a genocide. NEC-SE hopes that the world nations understand that if Assyrians are eradicated from their homeland in the Middle East the civilized nations will be losing more than just an enduring ally within the region but also the tip of the spear for civilized communities throughout the world.
