festivals: The Middle East life was interrupted by various festivals that were part of the cultic calendar, the schedule of interaction between a community and its deity The importance of religious festivals to structure time is made most obvious by the fact that many month names are actually the names of festivals, for example, the Sumerian month name Ezem-mah-Nanna, “Great Festival of the Moon God,” or the Akkadian month name Kinunum, “Brazier Festival” (celebrated at the advent of winter) Festivals were those occasions when the gods met with the public, not just with the specialized personnel who served them on a daily basis At the core of every festival lies an encounter with the divine, and those who together met with the deity gained a strong sense of group identity from the event In the third millennium b.c.e., in the period of early city-states, every city had its own distinctive calendar This calendar reflected the individual schedule of each city’s local deity, starting every year anew with the celebration of the new year, when the god bestowed his blessing on his people Although the beginning of the year was often celebrated in early spring, the various city-states did not celebrate at the exact same time In the northern Mesopotamian city of Ekallatum, for example, the New Year festival took place in autumn Only with political unification came the merging and synchronization of these local calendars Typically, the cultic calendar of the royal dynasty’s city of origin was imposed on the entire country, while the most prominent festivals of regional centers were integrated into this calendar As late as in the seventh century b.c.e we have evidence that the Assyrian king not only participated in the New Year festival at the imperial god Assur’s temple at the city of the same name, the cultic capital of Assyria, but also celebrated the New Year festival at Kalchu, in the temple of the god Nabû, and at Arbīl, in the temple of the goddess Ishtar The king’s prominent role in all important festivals is the legacy of the personal union between political leader and high priest in the early city-states It was the obligation of vassals personally to attend the main festivals of their overlords or at least to send a high-ranking deputy The same was expected of allies, and from the diplomatic correspondence found at Amarna we know that Kadashman-Enlil I, the king of Babylon, felt slighted that Amenophis III of Egypt had not invited him to join him in celebrating his “great festival,” in all likelihood the Sed festival, a sort of royal jubilee While those festivals that took place in a yearly cycle were closely connected to and reflected by the calendar, there are other festivals that were celebrated less often, for example, in a seven-year cycle, such as the Zukru festival to commemorate the dead of the Syrian city of Emar, or at entirely irregular intervals, such as the funeral of a king or the installation of a new high priestess after the demise of her predecessor Some of these festivals could take several or even dozens of days, as we know from surviving texts that describe the programs for the events It is not surprising to find that it is often the irregular festivals that are documented in this way: Their schedule was laid down in writing so that future generations would 465 be guaranteed to hold the celebration in the correct way; an exact liturgy, down to the songs to be sung and the prayers to be recited, needed to be followed, as any mistake would have upset the meeting with the divine, with possibly fatal consequences for the community As members of the elite, including rulers and priestly personnel, could reasonably hope to live to old age, many decades could pass before a royal funeral or an investiture ceremony was necessary Hence, the installation of the high priestess of the storm god’s temple at Emar is one of the best-known Near Eastern festivals The event, as it was celebrated in the second half of the second millennium b.c.e., took nine days and involved the participation of the residents of the entire city, who selected one of their daughters to be given to the god as his human consort While the number of those who could enter the temple and meet with the god or goddess in his or her shrine was always restricted, the general public had the chance to come into contact with the divine when, as was an important part of many festivals, the deity left the temple on a procession through the city or even the country The deity did so in the form of a statue and traveled by chariot or on a boat So important was the moment when the god left the shrine that a series of omens was recorded that forecast the future from the way the statue looked or “acted” at that particular time The divine statue on its vehicle provided the focal point, but the procession consisted of many participants: Priests, musicians, and singers formed the human entourage, together with attendants, who steered and protected the divine means of transport The god often found himself in the company of other deities who partook in his festival While the procession in itself was an important element of the festival, the outing would often lead to a particular destination, such as a garden residence, a game park, or another temple, where the deity was to undertake elaborate activities, such as hunting expeditions or wedding ceremonies; we probably should imagine this practice as a form of ritual drama, possibly similar to early Greek theater With the processions being the most public part of the festivals, the communion of selected individuals, as the representatives of their entire community, with the god in the privacy of the temple was at the heart of every celebration The meeting was accompanied by sacrifices, consisting of food, drink, and incense; the community, or at least parts of it, benefited from these sacrifices because these provisions were in turn distributed in the form of public feasts As the sacrifices included luxury food, such as wine, meat, and fruit, festivals were also occasions when the general populace had a chance to enjoy these otherwise rare treats Hence, ancient Near Eastern festivals served a variety of purposes For the community, festivals strengthened the group’s identity and provided public entertainment, holidays from work, and the opportunity to encounter the divine; for the leaders of the community, festivals served to legitimize and highlight their role as the intermediaries between the divine and the people