Photo from last Year
ishtartv.com
ASSYRIAN
UNIVERSAL ALLIANCE - AUSTRALIA CHAPTER INC.
Sydney
– 15 March, 2017
The
Assyrian Australian National Federation (AANF) together with The Assyrian
Universal Alliance (AUA), will be hosting this year’s Assyrian New Year Festival
on Sunday, 2nd April 2017, at Fairfield
Showground. The Festival will start at 10:00 am and finish at 10:00 pm.
The
Assyrian New Year Festival was the most prodigious celebration in ancient
Assyria, including Babylon, Sumer and Akkad. Following the first new moon after
the vernal equinox in late March when the Earth's equator passes the centre of
the Sun, the Assyrians would honour the rebirth of the natural world with a
multi-day festival called the Spring Festival. This New Year’s celebration
dates back to 6767. During the Spring Festival, statues of the gods were
paraded through the city streets, and rites were enacted to symbolize their
victory over the forces of chaos. Through these rituals the Babylonians & Assyrians
believed the world was symbolically cleansed and recreated by the gods in
preparation for the New Year and the return of spring.
The
event organisers hope to highlight and strengthen cultural heritage by
continuing a celebration which dates back to more than 6,000 years. Moreover
the festival aims to promote cross-cultural understanding at the same time as
encouraging inter-generational appreciation.
The
official opening will commence at 1:30 pm. Like the preceding years, the
festival is expected to draw a crowd of over 8,000 attendees with noted
dignitaries from Local, State, Federal Government, and special guests from
overseas, together with representatives from different community organisations.
A
whole array of entertainment will be on display including something for everyone
and every age. Live musical performances by an assortment of Assyrian singers
will entertain the audience as they dance the night away. As usual there will
be great food, variety stalls, and different games and rides of fun for
children. The festival will culminate with a spectacular fireworks display at 8:45
pm.
For
the fifth successive year, an exhibition is being organised by The Assyrian
Youth. The exhibition will display the destruction of the ancient Assyrian
archaeological sites in Northern Iraq and in North East of Syria. The
near-total annihilation of the Assyrian Christians and their expulsion from
their historical homelands in Nineveh plains in northern Iraq and Khabour
region in Eastern Syria by ISIS invaders who also destroyed Mosul Museum and
the ancient cities of Nimrud and
Khorsabad .
At
6:00 pm, a dramatic art piece based on Assyrian historical records of the New
Year’s Festival in ancient times will be performed by a collaboration of Assyrian
youth groups. The theatrical piece will simulate the arrival of the King and
Queen of Assyria from the remote past to bless the festivity.
The
New Year Festival will be live streamed on the link below so that Assyrians and
non-Assyrians alike can watch it live or on delay, whether they are in
Fairfield or Frankfurt. http://www.m1media.com.au/
We
invite all communities to come together and celebrate this New Year day with Australian
Assyrians.
Assyrian
Universal Alliance
auaaustralia@bigpond.com
Media
Contact: Mr. Hermiz Shahen: Mobile: 0407 235349
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