We have seen[1532] that in the developed system of the Babylonian religion, every day of the year had some significance, and that certain days in each month—so, e.g., the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th—had a special significance. It has also been pointed out that in different religious centers, the days singled out for special significance differed. In view of this, we must be prepared to find that the festival days were not the same in all parts of Babylonia, nor necessarily identical in the various periods of Babylonian and Assyrian history.
The common name for festival was isinnu. If we may judge from the use of assinnu as a general name for priest,[1533]—a servant of a deity,—the underlying stem appears to signify simply 'to serve.' Another name that reveals more as to the character of the Babylonian festivals is tashiltu, which is used as a synonym for 'joy, delight.' The festivals were indeed joyous occasions, marked by abundance of offerings and merry-making, though, as we shall see, the somber note in the rejoicings was not absent. The kings dedicate their temples and palaces amidst manifestation of rejoicing. They pray that the gods may occupy the dwellings prepared for them "in joy and jubilance,"[1534] and the reference to festivals in the historical texts are all of such a character as to make us feel that the Babylonian could appreciate the Biblical injunction to "rejoice"[1535] in the divine presence, on the occasions set apart as, in a peculiar sense, sacred.
Defective as our knowledge of the ancient Babylonian festivals still is, the material at our disposal shows that at a comparatively early period, there was one day in the year on which a festival was celebrated in honor of a god or goddess that had a more important character than any other. In the developed zodiacal system of Babylonia each month is sacred to a deity.[1536] This system was perfected under the direct influence of the theological schools of Babylonia, but so much of it, at all events, rests upon ancient traditions which assigns a month to each god; and since Marduk is not accorded the first place, but takes his position in a group of solar deities, and since, moreover, these solar deities have a position in the calendar which accords with their specific solar character,[1537] we may proceed a step further and assume with some confidence that the Babylonian scholars were guided—in large part, at least—by ancient traditions in parceling out the months as they did. Anu, Bel, and Ea, it is true, may have been assigned to the first three months because of the preëminent position of these three gods as a special triad; but even here the antiquity of the triad furnishes a guarantee that the association of some month with some deity belongs to a very ancient period of Babylonian history. This being the case, it would be natural that the first day of the month sacred to a deity would be regarded as his or her festival par excellence, and in the case of the cult of a deity spreading beyond its original limits, this festival would assume a more general character. On this day the people would come from all parts of the district within which the cult was carried on, to pay their homage to the god or goddess. In the days of Gudea, we find Bau occupying this superior rank. Her festival had assumed such importance as to serve for reckoning the commencement of the year.
Hence it became known simply as the day of zag-muku,[1538] that is, the New Year's Day.[1539] Whether this festival of Bau was recognized as the New Year's Day throughout Babylonia, we do not know, but it must have been observed in a considerably extensive district, or Gudea would have made the attempt to give some festival connected with his favorite deity Nin-girsu this character. As it is, he can only combine Bau's festival with the cult of Nin-girsu, by making the New Year's Day the occasion of a symbolical marriage between the god and the goddess. Nin-girsu is represented as offering marriage gifts to Bau,[1540] on the Zagmuku. How early Bau came to occupy so significant a rank has not been ascertained. It is her quality as the 'great mother,' as the goddess of fertility and abundance,[1541] rather than any political supremacy of the district in which she was worshipped, that constitutes the chief factor in giving Bau this preëminence, just as we have found in the case of the other great goddesses of Babylonia,—Ninâ, Nanâ, Ishtar,—specific traits and not political importance lending them the significance they acquired.
At one time we may well suppose that the festival of En-lil at Nippur, which brought worshippers from all parts of Babylonia, was recognized as a 'New Year's Day,' and we may some day find evidence that at a still earlier period the first day of a month sacred to some other god,—Sin or Shamash or Nanâ-Ishtar of Erech,—was recognized in some districts as the starting-point for the year; but to an agricultural community, the spring, when the seeds are sown, or the fall, after the harvest has been gathered, are the two most natural periods for reckoning the beginning of the year. Since we know that at the time when Babylon acquired her supremacy the year began in the spring, the conservatism attaching to religious observances makes it more than probable that Bau's festival also fell in the spring.
After the ancient religious and political centers of the south yielded their privileges to Babylon, it was natural for the priests of Marduk to covet the honor of the New Year's festival for the new head of the pantheon. Accordingly, we find the Zagmuku transformed into a Marduk festival. That it did not originally belong to Marduk follows from the fact that it was celebrated in the month of Nisan,—the first month,—whereas the month sacred to Marduk was Arakh-shamna (or Marcheshwan),—the eighth month. The deliberate transfer of the Zagmuku to Marduk is also indicated by the fact that the festival of Nisan has another name by which it is more commonly designated,—Akitu.[1542] The name seems to have been originally a general term for a festival, and it is natural that Marduk's festival should have come to be known as the festival, just as among the Hebrews the annual fall pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Jerusalem became known as the Hag,—the pilgrimage par excellence. To distinguish it from other festivals, Marduk's festival is sometimes spoken of as the "great" or the "lofty" Akitu. The first day was properly the Zagmuku, whereas the Akitu itself extended at least over the first eleven days of Nisan[1543] and may indeed have lasted the entire month; but Zagmuku was also used for the festival period. The New Year's Day was marked by a solemn procession. The union of Nabu and Marduk was symbolized by a visit which the former paid to his father, the chief of the Babylonian pantheon. In his ship, magnificently fitted out,[1544] Nabu was carried along the street known as Ai-ibur-shabû,[1545] leading from Borsippa across the Euphrates to Babylon.
The street was handsomely paved,[1546] and everything was done to heighten the impressiveness of the ceremony. The visit of Nabu marked the homage of the gods to Marduk; and Nabu set the example for other gods, who were all supposed to assemble in E-Sagila during the great festival. We have already pointed out that the cult of Nabu at Borsippa at one time was regarded with greater sanctity than the Marduk worship in Babylon. As a concession to the former supremacy of Nabu, the priests of E-Sagila, carrying the statue of Marduk, escorted Nabu back to Borsippa. The return visit raises the suspicion that it was originally Marduk who was obliged to pay an annual homage to Nabu.
However this may be, the double ceremony became to such an extent the noteworthy feature of the Zagmuku or Akitu that when the chroniclers wish to indicate that, because of political disturbances, the festival was not celebrated, they use the simple formula:
Nabu did not come to Babylon.
Bel [i.e., Marduk] did not march out.[1547]