Syriac Union Party in Syria and Bethnahrain Patriotic Union Party in Iraq announce Kha Nison-Akitu celebrations in Girsheran and on Mount Alfaf

ANKAWA/BETH ZALIN, Iraq-Syria — With the national holiday of Akitu or “Kha Nison” coming up, the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union (HBA) in Iraq and the Syriac Union Party (SUP) in Syria have announced the locations and details of their celebrations on April 1. 

HBA is holding this year’s Kha Nison celebration in the Nineveh Plain, on the slopes of Mount Alfaf (Mount Maqlub), near the Syriac Orthodox Mar Mattai Monastery. Festivities begin in the morning. Transportation from the surrounding Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian towns of Baritle (Bartella), Karamlesh, and Baghdede (Qaraqos) has been arranged. Music will be provided by Danny Asmaro and the Syriac folklore band Qithoro. 

The Syriac Union Party in Syria announced in a statement on its official Facebook page that it will hold its main celebration in the village of Girsheran, near Qabre Hewore (Qahtaniye) in the Gozarto (Jazeera) Canton. Besides the main celebration in Girsheran, joint celebrations will be held in the village of Tal Wardiat in the Khabur River Valley and in the village of al-Hakamiye, near the city of Derik.

Kha Nison-Akitu is part of the Syriac (Assyrian-Chaldean-Aramean) national cultural heritage and has a tradition of thousands of years in Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia). Kha Nison-Akitu is a spring festival and symbolizes the revival of nature, fertility, new life, and resurrection.