Sumerian/Babylonian Month: January/February

 The calendars of Mesopotamia have non-standard months from the winter solstice to the spring equinox. The Standard Mesopotamian Calendar attempts to fit the lunar year into a solar one. To accomplish this, an extra month is added every two and half years. Then every 17th and 19th year, one more month is added. The result is that every nineteen years, the calendar would reset. Therefore, timing for the festivals from January to March differs from year to year.

 

Sumerian

Modern Sumerian Polytheists follow the calendar of Nippur, the sacred city of southern Mesopotamia. The month of January/February is Ud Duru (“fresh Emmer wheat”). (Emmer wheat is a primitive form of grain.) At the first of the month, “Celebration of the Early Grass” (Ezem-Sekinku) is held to celebrate the early harvest.

 

“Asnan, like a beautiful maiden, appears; She lets the crop for the great festival of Enlil come up heavenward.” (Note 1.)

 

From the “Lugal-e” (The exploits of Ninurta, Warrior God)

“At the Gods’ ‘Early Grass’

May they seat the two of you

New-Moon day by New-Moon Day

On the broad side of the table.”

 

“O Hulalu stone, may you be found in honey and wine,

And may you all rightfully be decked out with gold,

At the ‘Early Grass’ festival of the Gods

May all the lands salute you by lowering nose to the ground for you.” (Note 2.)

 

Babylonian:

For Babylonian Polytheists, the month is Sabatu (“blowing storms”) of the Standard Mesopotamian Calendar. The barley harvest is two months away, and the canals need to be inspected. The Festival of Dikes and Canals (Ni-diri-ezem-ma) is held mid-month. Enkimdu, the God of Ditches and Canals, and Enbiluli, God of Rivers and Divine Canal Inspector, receive offerings of water boots. Then, the canals are repaired and inspected. (Note 3.)

 

Notes:

Note 1: Asnan is a Goddess of Grain.

Note 2. In this myth, Ninurta assigns tasks to the stones that He conquered in his battle with the Asag Demon.

Note 3. Canals were needed to control floods from the foothills and redirect water from the marshes. They provided water for irrigation and transportation for the cities.

 

In the Lugal-e, Ninurta uses the stones to build mountains to ensure that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers be for the people to use. “The Tigris did not bring up its flood in its fullness. Its mouth did not finish in the sea…No one yet cleaned the little canals, the mud was not dredged up.”