Akitu, The First New Year’s Celebration
The Akitu festival goes back around 4,000 years, and it is considered the oldest New Year’s celebration. Initiated within the Babylonian culture, the Akitu festival was celebrated in the first month of their calendar year (equivalent to March/April today). It was marked by the vernal equinox, one of two days in the year when the sun spends the same amount of time above and below the horizon (i.e., darkness and light are of equal length). The Akitu festival was one of two celebrations that marked both the sowing and cutting of barley.
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The first New Year’s celebration was much more intense and vital than it is today. For the Babylonians, it was a spiritual and political event that lasted 11–12 days (depending on how you are counting). Over the length of the celebration, the story of creation was performed and retold to prevent the world from falling into chaos. In Mesopotamian myth, the heavens and Earth were created by Marduk (preeminent sky god) from the remains of vanquished Tiamat (sea goddess).
In addition to glorifying Marduk through performance and poem, the Babylonians used the time as an opportunity to crown new kings or to have their current ruler renew his divine mandate. The head priest would strip the king of his crown, jewels, and scepter, and then slap him across the face. The king would then kneel before a statue of Marduk, pray for forgiveness, and promise he was not neglectful of his duties. After the prayer, the priest would again slap the king hard across the face. All the slapping was actually to help the king, as the Babylonians thought Marduk only approved the king for another year if the king cried before his statue.
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