Assyrian, Chaldean Christian heritage showcased at Ankawa festival
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The fifth Syriac Heritage Festival commenced on Monday in Erbil's Christian-majority district of Ankawa, attracting Assyrians and Chaldeans from Iraq and abroad as the community showcased its culture.
The festival, which was organized by local authorities and organizations in Ankawa, was also held to commemorate Akitu, the Assyrian-Babylonian New Year and the world's oldest holiday.
Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christians celebrate Akitu by wearing traditional clothes, marching through the streets, and holding parties with food, music, and dance.
Barbara Solaqa, an elderly housewife, said that she has been participating in Akitu celebrations for more than 50 years.
'Everyone is the same. Everyone makes these things. This food is made by Muslims, Christians, and Yazidis. What I am making is tandoor bread,' Solaqa told Rudaw's Ranja Jamal at the festival.
Besides local folk groups, several groups from abroad are also present at the festival this year.
'We have groups from outside the Kurdistan Region, and we have groups who came from abroad – from Syria, Russia, and Armenia – who are also participating,' Kaldo Ramzi, general director of Syriac culture and arts, told Rudaw.
The festival also promotes reading and writing in Syriac – the historic language of the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac community.
Many Christians in the Middle East speak Syriac as their mother tongue, with speakers mostly concentrated in the community's indigenous homeland spanning across parts of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. It is also spoken in Jordan, Israel, Armenia, Georgia, and Lebanon by smaller pockets of the community.
Large parts of the community in the diaspora also speak Syriac.
'We first started Syriac education [curriculum] in 1993. Now there are 48 schools, 33 teach entirely in the Syriac language, and the others teach Syriac as well as the religion of Christianity,' Sabah Anton, director of Syriac education at the Kurdistan Region's education ministry, told Rudaw.
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