Happy Assyrian new year 6759 best wishes and regards to our Assyrian nation. We made it through centuries and will keep on going. Have a great day everyone.

Assyrian New Year

Kha b-Nisan, also Ha b-Nison; ܚܕ ܒܢܝܣܢ "First of April", Resha d'Sheta; ܪܝܫܐ ܕܫܢܬܐ "Head of the year" in Syriac, also known as Akitu, or Assyrian new year is the spring festival among the Assyrians, celebrated on 1 April.

Celebrations involve parades and parties. Men and women wear traditional costume and dance in parks for hours.

History 

In the Julian calendar, vernal equinox moved gradually away from March 21st. The Gregorian calendar reform restored vernal equinox to its original date, but since the festival was by now tied to the date, not the astronomical event, Kha b-Nisan remains fixed at March 21 of the Julian reckoning, corresponding to 1 April of the Gregorian calendar. Vernal equinox is celebrated throughout Greater Iran as Noruz meaning "New Day" on March 21st. However, in the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian traditions, the Spring festival was celebrated in the first days of the month known as "Nissan" and the calendar adopted by the ancient Assyrians had the month "Nissan" as the beginning of the calendar lending to the term "kha b'nissan", or the first of Nissan.

In the 1950s, rising interest in Assyrianism resulted in the creation of a modern "Assyrian calendar"with its era was fixed at 4750 BC, inspired by an estimate of the date of the first temple at Ashur in the Middle Ubaid period. In the same spirit, the Akkadian name of the spring festival, Akitu was revived.

The event is also largely celebrated by Assyrians residing in Syria. Although the Syrian government does not acknowledge the festival, Assyrians still continue with the celebration. In 2002, Assyrians in Syria celebrated the event with a mass wedding of 16 couples and over 25,000 attendees. After the formation of the Turkish state, Khab Nissan along with the Noruz were banned from public to celebrate. Assyrians in Turkey were first allowed to publicly celebrate Kha b-Nison in 2005, after organisers received permission from the government to stage the event, in light of democratic reforms adopted in support of Turkey's EU membership bid. Around 5,000 people 'including large groups of visiting ethnic Assyrians from Europe, Syria and Iraq' took part in the Kha b-Nisan celebrations.

One of the largest Assyrian New Year celebration took place in Iraq in 2008. Public celebrations were not allowed by Saddam Hussein's regime prior to the start of the Iraq war. The event was organized by the Assyrian Democratic Movement and from 45,000 to 65,000 people took part in the parade.

Source URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kha_b-Nisan

Remind for all players: Training tomorrow (Wednesday 4th March 09) at 6.00PM, Memorial park. All players must attend as we will have a metting afterwards to discuss Pasefika Cup that starts this Saturday 7th March 2009. Below are pools and draws, our first game kicks off at 10.00AM:

Polynesian Pool (A): Wantoks, Red Dragons, Auckland Samoa
[All Games on Field 1]

   
Micronesian Pool (B): Kaumaile United, NZFC, Cook Islands
[All Games on Field 2]

Melanesian Pool (C): Assyrian Star, Bula Boys, Jesus Worship Centre
[All Games on Field 3]

Austronesian Pool (D): Upolu Samoa, Tungaru, Tuvalu United
[All Games on Field 4]

Well done guys for the great effort you have put into the games.

Assyrian Star played Wellington Assyrian on the final game in a beautiful game. Both teams played well and with a great spirit.

The game finished in a win for Assyrian Wellington after penalty shoot outs. (1-1 Full Time, 4-5 Final Result)

The end results were:

Winners: Assyrian Wellington
Runners Up: Assyrian Star
Third and Fourth: Chaldean Society and United Brothers.

Special thanks to Assyrian Nineveh Association in Auckland for supporting the team and for providing the uniforms for Assyrian Star.

Check what the PlanetFM Radio newsletter said about the Assyrian Star.

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