Assyrian FlagThe Assyrian people originally come from the population of the ol
den Assyrian Empire, which grew from the Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon of Akkad (975-700 B.C). Assyrian kings conquered Aramaean tribes and they were moulded into the Assyrian empire, but their language, Aramaic, took over the local Akkadian language, which was partly due to the Assyrian kings moving lots of people around the country. However, the modern Aramaic language spoken by modern Assyrians, is quite heavily mixed with ancient Akkadian language. The term Aramaic is derived from Aram, the fifth son of Shem, the firstborn of Noah. The family of Aram stayed in the fruitful valley, Padan-aram also known as Beth Nahreen.Aramaic people can be found in many countries, including : Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, Jordon, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia and Palestine.
Culture
Aramaic culture is dictated by religion. The language is joined to the church and festivals happen during religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Aramaic’s are proud of their traditions, their Christianity and of speaking the language of Christ. When a person dies, three days after they are buried they get together to celebrate their rising to heaven, the same as Jesus and after seven days they again get together to celebrate their passing. After a death a close family member wears only black clothes for forty days and forty nights or sometimes for one year as a sign of respect
The first law in the world was made during the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon between 1792 and 1750 B.C. He made lots of laws to do with business, the family like marriage and divorce and criminal law like theft.
When people visit their family or friends the custom is for the men to shake hands and kiss each other on the cheek and the women kiss and hug each other. You are allowed to kiss a relative (man or woman) but not people who are not relatives. The Aramaic people are very friendly, they like meeting friends and having fun especially when they are sharing food and drink. Each family used to make different types of food and they would all meet up in one house to have fun.
Somikka is a religious festival that begins on February 26 and ends on Easter Sunday. It is similar in some ways to Halloween, but its meaning is very much different. The young men wear scary masks and black clothes and then they go and scare the children of other friend and family. The men don’t leave the house until the family give them some money. The young men scare the children so that they remember to fast during lent.
People’s names mean a lot in Aramaic. People can tell you are Aramaic by your name like Teresa, Rita, Paul, Steve, Nathan, Mary and many more.
Dancing and Music
Everybody likes to sing and dance and it is part of our culture. The most popular dance is the Khigga. This is a very simple dance and it is also the first music that is played to welcome the bride and groom at their reception.
This kind of dance helps everyone at the party get to know each other as people who don’t know each other have to hold hands when they dance and talk to each other.
The main musical instruments are the Dhol & Zurna. During a wedding, the musicians play for a very long time, sometime about 2 hours without stopping. During that time people throw money at the musicians. If someone throws 50 pounds at the musician then some other man will try and be a bigger man by throwing in 100 pounds.Today’s music has changed because of the influence of the
British Army. The story goes that in 1932, the British Army was playing their music when they were marching in their parades. The Iraqi young people saw the parades and started to copy some of the music. Many years later, Ewan Shamdinany was the first who released a modern Assyrian music LP with full western instrumental band in the 1950s.
The Aramaic Language
Aramaic is one of the Semitic languages, an important group of languages known almost from the beginning of human history and including also Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopic, and Akkadian (ancient Babylonian and Assyrian). By the 8th century B.C. the Aramaic language was the major language from Egypt to Asia Minor to Pakistan. It was in use by the great Semitic empires, Assyria and Babylon. The language of the people of Palestine from Hebrew to Aramaic sometime between 721-500 B.C. Therefore,. Many parts of the Bible like Ezra and Daniel are in Aramaic. Some of the best known stories in biblical literature, including that of Belshazzar’s feast with the famous "handwriting on the wall" are in Aramaic., the what's left of the library of a two languages that haven't been used in common speech for centuries -- Latin and the even less familiar Aramaic.
Early Aramaic Alphabet
Cui
sine
Assyrian cuisine is similar to other Middle Eastern cuisines. However, it came before both Arab and Turkish cuisine in Western Asia. It is also similar to Armenian, Greek, Israeli, Persian, and Levantine cuisine. It is rich in grains, meat, tomato, and potato. Rice is usually served with every meal accompanied by a stew poured over the rice. Tea is typically consumed at all times of the day drink. Cheese, crackers, biscuits, baklava, or other snacks are often served beside the tea. Alcohol is also very popular when we are eating, the most popular is called Arak.
A typical appetiser would be called a Maza and is made like:
Maza which may include Humous ou Tahina, Baba Ghanouj,Tapoula , Fattoush, vegetables and dip,Burek, etc.Fava beans , known as baqilleh, and koba, known as lablabior, khirtamaneh, are very common in soups, salads, and are used in many foods. Fried almonds and raisins are also used . Another popular maza is tourshi which means pickles. Many different types of vegetables are pickled such as cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, beats, and peppers. Tea is a staple in the diet even more so than coffee. Almost always the maza is accompanied with tea or Turkish coffee.
Re
ligion
All Aramaic’s are Christians. Most educated people believe that Jesus spoke firstly Aramaic then some Hebrew and Greek. They also believe that the old towns of Nazareth and Capernaum where Jesus lived were Aramaic speaking. Also it is believed that Jesus would have spoken to mostly Aramaic speaking audiences.
History
Iraq has lots of history, various peoples ruled it. Some of them were the Sumerians and Akkadians, then there was the Babylonians, Mitanni and Assyrians, then the Chaldeans, after them it was Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, then the Persians followed by the Arabs then the Turks. The Turks Ottoman Empire ruled until World War 1 when the British captured Bagdad in 1917. The British and French decided on our borders with no respect for the different cultures and religions (Kurds and Assyrians) so there was lots of fighting. Emir Faisal became the first king of Iraq in 1921. In 1927 the oil fields were found (It is now the 2nd largest country in the world with oil reserves) and in 1979 Saddam Hussein took control and the rest is history, we all know about the wars.
Location
The country of Iraq is located in the Middle East and its neighbours are Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordon, Syria and Turkey. There is two very big rivers in Iraq, the Tigris and Euphrates
One of the seven wonders of the world - The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, They were built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 B.C and history tells us that they Hanging Gardens rose up hundreds of feet into the air.Folklore
The Iraqi National Folklore group started in 1971 to preserve the folk dancing heritage of Iraq. Nowadays the woman in the group have to be very careful to protect themselves because females dancing is considered haram or forbidden in Islam.
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