The President of the Republic said in a tweet on the (X) platform, followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "On the occasion of the Akitu holiday, the Babylonian-Assyrian New Year, we congratulate our Chaldean, Assyrian, and Syriac people, wishing them a happy holiday in which everyone enjoys goodness, prosperity, and blessings."The current Akitu Festival is a modern revival of the ancient Mesopotamian New Year festival with the same name. The Christian groups mentioned above still use Aramaic as their liturgical language.
For more on the modern festival, see here and links. And for the ancient one, here and links (cf. here).
Happy New Year to all those celebrating!
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