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Letter to their Editor
Posted by Tiglath (Guest) davidchibo@hotmail.com - Tuesday, July 20 2004, 15:55:12 (CEST)
from Australia - Windows XP - Internet Explorer
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To the Contra Costa Times,


This e-mail is in relation to Dogen Hannah's article titled, 'Christians in Iraq commemorate mass baptisms with water festival.' The Christianised version of Nusardil water festival holiday erroneously commemorates the baptism of the apostles by Jesus. The antecedent of this Christian holiday is the ancient Babylonian holiday commemorating the death of the vegetation God Tammuz and the descent of the Goddess Ishtar to the netherworld.



The Death of Tammuz which is still known as Nusardil (sprinkling water on the path of God) was a holiday that followed the ancient myth of Ishtar and Tammuz. The myth tells how Tammuz is killed, during the same month that bears his name. In the burning days of late summer the people came to the fields, where Tammuz stood, and cruelly murdered him with sickles scattering his flesh over the land. When the Goddess Ishtar learned of the death of her beloved, she was distraught with grief. Weary and worn from weeping she knew that she must find the spirit of Tammuz and bring him back to life, whatever perils faced her.



Ishtar descends to the netherworld to rescue Tammuz from the “land of no return.” During these events in the netherworld, everything on earth is withering away. Trees and plants wither and die and animals and humans alike are sterile.



When Ishtar pleads with the Gods to restore Tammuz to life, the Gods agree and he is bathed in the waters of life. Tammuz is destined to spend six months in the world of the living and the following six months in the netherworld.



Tammuz symbolises the summer harvest conducted in the Middle East during the Summer Equinox around the 20th June every year, not the 19th July. The water festival symbolises the “waters of life” that were splashed on the God Tammuz to reawaken the dying God and return him from the netherworld.



By 393 AD the Roman Emperor Theodosius had made Christianity the official and only state religion of the Roman Empire. He then undertook the forcible suppression of all other religions, and the prohibition of all forms of paganism. This involved Christianising the ancient Babylonian holidays and changing their true origins.



I hope you can include the ancient Ishtar and Tammuz myth depicting the story of the seasons in a future news story regarding the origins of the Nusardil water festival.



Kindest regards,

Tiglath Chibo

Canberra, Australia



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