Dehwa Rabba () or Nauruz Rabba (, 'Great New Year') is the Mandaean New Year. It is the first day of Daula (or Dowla), the first month of the

Mandaean calendar The Mandaean calendar is a 365-day solar calendar used by the Mandaean people.Drower, Ethel Stefana. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1937. It consists of twelve 30-day months, with five extra days at the end of ...

Kanshiy u-Zahly

''Kanshī u-Zahli'' or ''Kanshiy u-Zahly'' () is the day preceding Dehwa Rabba, or

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

. It is the 30th day of Gadia, the twelfth month (i.e., the last day of the Mandaean year). On Kanshiy u-Zahly, Mandaeans do not work as it is a holy day. Mandaean priests spend the entire day performing prayers and

masbuta Maṣbuta (; pronounced ''maṣwottā'' in Neo-Mandaic) is the ritual of immersion in water in the Mandaean religion. Overview Mandaeans revere John the Baptist and practice frequent baptism (''masbuta'') as ritual purification, not of initia ...

until the afternoon, and also animals are slaughtered for consumption. Before the sun sets, Mandaeans prepare food for the following day of Dehwa Rabba and also perform ''

ṭmasha In Mandaeism, tamasha or ṭamaša () is an ritual purification, ablution ritual that does not require the assistance of a priest. Tamasha is performed by triple immersion in river (''yardna'') water. It is performed by women after menstruation o ...

'', or ritual immersion in water that does not require the assistance of a priest.

36 hours of seclusion

At sunset, once the

North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude t ...

appears in the sky, Mandaeans must stay inside their homes with their families for 36 hours. No one is permitted to go outside their homes during these 36 hours, since Mandaeans believe that the ''naṭria'' (guardian spirits, including the water guardians

Shilmai In Mandaeism, Shilmai (Šilmai; ) or Shalmai (Šalmai) is an uthra (angel or guardian) who serves as one of the two guardian spirits of Piriawis, the heavenly ''yardna'' (river) in the World of Light. In the ''Ginza Rabba'' and ''Qulasta'', he is ...

and

Nidbai In Mandaeism, Nidbai () is an uthra (angel or guardian) who serves as one of the two guardian spirits () of Piriawis, the heavenly ''yardna'' (river) in the World of Light. In the ''Ginza Rabba'' and ''Qulasta'', he is usually mentioned together ...

) have left

Tibil In Mandaean cosmology, Tibil () or occasionally Arqa ḏ-Tibil (lit. "Tibil-Earth") is the Earth (World) or earthly middle realm. It is separated from the World of Light (''alma ḏ-nhūra'') above and the World of Darkness (Mandaeism), World of D ...

and returned to the

World of Light In Mandaeism, the World of Light or Lightworld () is the primeval, transcendental world from which Tibil and the World of Darkness emerged. Description *The Great Life ('' Hayyi Rabbi'' or Supreme God/ Monad) is the ruler of the World of Ligh ...

, leaving people on Tibil vulnerable to misfortune. As a result, Mandaeans will emerge only at noontime on the 2nd day of Daula (the day following Dehwa Rabba). Deaths during these 36 hours are considered to be inauspicious (''mbaṭṭal'', ), and the

masiqta The masiqta () is a mass or ritual practiced in the Mandaean religion in order to help guide the soul ('' nišimta'') towards the World of Light in Mandaean cosmology. They are typically performed as funerary rites for Mandaeans who have just di ...

of Adam needs to be performed when Mandaean deaths occur during this time. During this period of time, it is also inauspicious to kill any animals or even swat insects. E. S. Drower has compared this period of isolation to the Babylonian festival

Akitu Akitu or Akitum () () is a spring festival and New Year's celebration, held on the first day of the Assyrian and Babylonian Nisan in ancient Mesopotamia and in Assyrian communities around the world, to celebrate the sowing of barley. Akit ...

and to the myth of

Dumuzid Dumuzid or Dumuzi or Tammuz (; ; ), known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd () and to the Canaanites as Adon (; Proto-Hebrew: 𐤀𐤃𐤍), is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian and :Levantine mythology, Levantine de ...

's descent into the underworld and his subsequent ascent after three days.

References

External links

Kanshia u Zahla (New Year) Baptisms
(unedited clips) {{Iraq topics New Year celebrations Observances on non-Gregorian calendars Mandaean holy days

Kanshiy u-Zahly

36 hours of seclusion

See also

References

External links