Christians celebrate ancient Akitu feast in Dohuk

(1 Apr 2022) IRAQ AKITU FESTIVAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 2:41
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dohuk, Iraq - 1 April 2022
1. People celebrating Akitu festival in Dohuk
2. Man playing zurna instrument in celebration
3. People dancing
4. Various of people performing traditional group dance
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iythana Henri, participant from Nineveh plains:
"Today is the Babylonian-Assyrian new year. We came here to celebrate, it is something we do on April 1, every year. Our fathers and forefathers used to celebrate this feast fully for 12 days, it was a full celebration. The name of this celebration is the Babylonian-Assyrian new year. But there are many who call it Akitu and just to clarify, Akitu is the name of the place where our fathers and forefathers used to celebrate it thousands of years ago."
6. Men playing zurna and drums
7. Various of people dancing and celebrating
8. People marching in the festival
9. Christian women wearing traditional costumes
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fadia Abdulahad, director of Mar Yaqoub Christian center:
"Now, there is some sort of freedom that we are practicing here. We get to hold and celebrate our religious feasts and wear our traditional Qaraqosh costume. We like to wear this during Christian religious events."
11. Various of participants chanting slogans and poetry together
12. People cheering and celebrating
13. Christians wearing traditional costumes
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sarkis Yohana, participant from Nineveh plains:
"This year on April 1, we enter the year 6772. This feast is inherited from our forefathers. They chose April 1 because it marks receiving spring, the symbol of renewal, the symbol of life and the symbol of nature and plants."
15. Various of band marching during festival
16. Various of people participating in festival
LEADIN:
Thousands of Christians in northern Iraq's Dohuk celebrated the ancient festival of Akitu, which marks the new year.
Some people donned traditional outfits to mark the celebration, while other welcomed the event with traditional dancing.
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Christians held a celebration in Dohuk, in the Kurdish region of Iraq to mark Akitu, or the Babylonian-Assyrian new year.
April 1 marks the start of the new year in the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations, making this Friday the start of the year 6772.
Revelers gathered in a festive event to welcome the feast with celebrations, traditional dancing and music.
Fadia Abdulahad, the director of Mar Yaqoub Christian center, said there has been a level freedom allowing the community to celebrate its religious events.
"We get to hold and celebrate our religious feasts and wear our traditional Qaraqosh costume. We like to wear this," she added.
Akitu is the name of a Babylonian temple located just outside the city of Babylonian in Mesopotamia or Iraq.
"They chose (to celebrate on) April 1 because it marks receiving spring, the symbol of renewal, the symbol of life," said Sarkis Yohana, one of the people celebrating.
Akitu is also the spring festival in ancient Mesopotamia.
Iraq's Christian population has dwindled from around 1.5 million before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that plunged the country into chaos to just a few hundred thousand today.
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[@aramkhoury8196]

Viva Syria and Iraq, viva Assyrians

[@memeFart]

Why they speak Arabic it's Kurdistan

[@TheObserversTV]

The statement in Arabic is for whole of Iraq.

[@somedudestolemyname]

there is no kurdistan, heval.

[@memeFart]

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[@somedudestolemyname]

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[@rebinzakholi7895]

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