FIRST OF APRIL, THE ASSYRIAN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL, 6762 YEARS OF HISTORY, AT FAIRFIELD SHOWGROUND

The Assyrian Australian National Federation (AANF) together with The Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA), will be hosting this year’s Assyrian New Year Festival on Sunday, 1st April 2012, at Fairfield Showground. The Festival will start at 10:00 am till 10:00 pm.
The event organisers hope to highlight and strengthen cultural heritage by continuing a celebration which dates back to more than 6,000 years. Moreover the festival aims to promote cross-cultural understanding at the same time as encouraging inter-generational appreciation.
The official opening will commence at 2:30 pm. Like the preceding years, the festival is expected to draw a crowd of approximately 10,000 attendees with noted dignitaries from Local, State and Federal Government, including the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, along with MPs from both Federal and State Government. Also several Members of the Legislative Council and nearly the entire Fairfield Council will be in attendance.
A whole array of entertainment will be on display including something for everyone and every age. Live musical performances by an assortment of Assyrian singers will entertain the audience as they dance the night away. As usual there will be great food, variety stalls, and a bunch of fun for children including live professional wrestling shows by PWA. The festival will culminate with a spectacular fireworks display at 9:00 pm.
This year, attendees will have a chance to win some amazing free gifts including, a holiday for two people, a 55 inch LG plasma TV, one year’s worth of car washes, one year’s gym membership, a smart phone and much, much more.
For the second successive year, an exhibition is being organised by The Young Assyrians, a subsidiary of The Assyrian Universal Alliance. The exhibition will display Assyrian inventions along with replicas of ancient reliefs; underscoring the Assyrian nation’s contribution to the advancement of civilization.
At 6:00 pm, a dramatic arts piece titled “The Sacred Marriage”, based on Assyrian historical records of the New Year’s festival in ancient times, will be performed by a collaboration of Assyrian youth groups. The theatrical piece will simulate the arrival of the King and Queen of Assyria from the remote past to bless the festivity.
This year the New Year Festival will be aired on the internet so that Assyrians and non-Assyrians alike can watch it live or on delay, whether they are in Fairfield or Frankfurt.( Link provided )
The Assyrian New Year is the most important national festival handed down through history from the remote past. Today, millions of Assyrians all over the world celebrate this day as the pre-eminent national festival.
The Assyrian New Year Festival was the most prodigious celebration in ancient Assyria, including Babylon, Sumer and Akkad. The beginning of spring was the day of major civic and religious celebration for the ancient Assyrians. It was the time of nature’s resurrection and the start of the New Year. It was a time to make sense of life, death, the universe and it’s Creator. Assyrians were just as anxious to understand the mysteries of life, to find God and worship Him as we are today. Theirs was man’s first attempt to explain God, His work and His will.
In Assyria (Mesopotamia), the New Year´s Festival appears as the confluence of every current of religious thought to express every shade of religious feeling. Basically, it served:
1. to establish harmony with nature which was indispensable to a fruitful social life;
2. to reaffirm the bond between the community and the gods, the community here being represented by the king in temple ritual, for the king was the one responsible for the continual tending of earthly harmony and accountable to the gods.
3. to enact ritually the periodical changes of fortune humanity was subjected to and seek active participation in changing the fates by listening to the gods´ designs and yet searching for mystical ways to attune and even interfere with destiny by acting upon omens and auguries.
We invite all communities to come together and celebrate this New Year day with Australian Assyrians.
The Assyrian New Year Festival will be aired live by M1 Media Production on the following link: http://m1media.com.au/
Assyrian Universal Alliance
auaaustralia@optusnet.com.au