išuwa festival
The išuwa festival or ḫišuwa festival was a Hittite festival with Hurrian origins that was celebrated annually in Ḫattuša without a fixed date . It took nine days. It was introduced by the Great Queen Puduḫepa to strengthen the salvation of the royal family. The main deities of the festival were the weather god of Manuzi and his Paredros Lelluri.
origin
Puduḫepa, who came from a priestly family from Lawazantiya in Kizzuwatna , instructed the head clerk Walwaziti to look in the archives for festive rituals from her homeland and to create a new festival from them, which the salvation of her husband Ḫattušili III. should strengthen. Walwaziti wrote thirteen tablets on it that describe the rituals of the new festival in detail. Due to its origin, most of the rituals and worshiped deities are of the Hurrian type. It may have been named after the divine eagle Išuwa, who was worshiped on this festival.
Festive course
On the first day the rituals were prepared and the statuettes of the most important deities were washed, anointed and newly dressed. First the weather god is clothed by Manuzi , then the oath goddess Išḫara in a red robe and the goddess of the underworld, Allani , in a blue one. The two statuettes by Nubadig each receive a red short skirt and a tunic, Adamma- Kubaba and the god of the dead Ugur each have a red short skirt.
Burning the fire
In the early morning of the second day the king goes to the “grandfather's house”, where in front of the statuettes of the father gods (hurr. Enna attanevena ) lies the “cup of the lelluri” woven from a white, red and blue cloth. Inside there are pastries and an eagle feather. The priest of the weather god of Manuzi presents the eagle feather to a singer, who places it singing in a water vessel. With a torch the priest swings around the father gods and the king and recites the “words of the torch” in Hurrian , whereupon the singer sprinkles the father gods and the king with the eagle feather. This is done three times. The following is a cleansing ritual bread and wine is libiert . After the torches with the rest of the wine and water have been extinguished, they are placed in the idargi rubbish bin in front of the temple . There, the Lelluri smoke offerings are made at the stone table, first oil-soaked cedar resin and, after washing, pastries, vegetables and fruits as well as meat from the sacrificed animals.
Then the king, seated, drinks one after the other for the weather god of Manuzi, then the pairs of gods Ḫebat - Mušni, further Šaluš - Kumarbi , and Aya - Šimige . If the queen is present, she first sacrifices to the Lelluri, then Ḫebat – Mušni, then Šaluš – Kumarbi, and Aya – Šimige, and finally Ištar and the “father gods of the Lelluri”. Then the statuette of the lelluri and the queen are anointed with oil. If the queen is absent, the priest takes her place.
Sacrifice in six temples
At the end of the second day in the temple of the garden goddess Maliya, the statuette of the goddess is dressed with a red robe and embroidered belt, but it is not washed. The next day, bread offerings are offered to various deities of lower rank in the temple of Maliya. The king goes into the courtyard of the temple, bows to the divine horse Erama and gives barley to the horse. Then he steps in front of the statuette of the goddess, where he libates and burns cedar resin.
Then the king goes one after the other to the temples of the weather god of Manuzi, Išḫara, Allani, Nubadig Pibit Pi, Nubadig Zalmatḫi and again to the temple of Maliya. In all temples a billy goat is offered as a salvation offering and a bird as a burnt offering. Fruits, honey, pastries and flatbreads are placed in front of the deity and samples of them are thrown into the incense bowl, then the king and the priest in charge give wine to the smaller deities. In the first three temples, the goddesses Ḫudena and Ḫudellurra belong to this group ; most of these deities are unknown outside of this festival. The two Nubadig are each worshiped together with Adamma- Kubaba , as well as the Luwian deity Uramaššani (“Great Deity”).
The king is not present at the sacrificial ritual for the eagle Ešue. The statuette of the eagle is placed in a basket in which a red cloth has been placed beforehand. Two priests carry the basket with the eagle to the timmaḫila tree, accompanied by the sounds of the lyre and torches. Pastries, cheese, barley porridge, olive oil, wine and a billy goat are offered to the eagle by the tree. Its blood and fat are mixed with the barley porridge and baked into two pies , the heart is fried and the meat is boiled. The priest then sacrifices to the mountains and rivers on a stone throne and informs them that the sacrifice is ready.
The king goes to the temple of Maliya to eat and drink. Here a libation is first offered to music and singing. Then bread offerings are prepared and taken to the other five temples. This is also the case with the following beer offering and finally the wine offering. The sacrificial rituals are continued in the usual way in the temple of the Maliya, with wine and bread offerings, music and dancing.
In the temple of the weather god of Ḫatti the king libels the rivers and springs of Kizzuwatna. After major gaps in the tradition, it is reported how the floors are cleaned. Then the king enters the temple of the weather god of Manuzi. Meal offerings are brought in and cattle driven into them, their horns and foreheads being adorned with gold by the priests. The king consecrates the cattle and libations to deities and various cult objects follow.
Washing on the Alda river
At the temple, a ḫilištarni figure for each of the six deities is placed on a stool. These are each dressed by a woman. Then these are carried by priests to the Alda River, which flows by Lawazantiya . The six women accompany them and beat the tambourines. The procession is led by singers. At the river, each woman washes the animal vessel for her figurine and sacrifices wheat flour and oil in the river. The rhyta are dried and filled with wine, which is offered to the figurines. In addition, each figurine receives a sheep sacrifice. Since the ḫišuwa festival was held in Ḫattuša, water was brought from the Aldi river for this ritual washing.
After another larger gap, the text begins with a prayer where the king prays for salvation for the lands of Ḫatti and Kizzuwatna. This is followed by further libations for various deities and then a longer drinking ritual for over forty mountain gods, including the mountains Manuzi and Amana , as well as the two gods mountains Namni and Ḫazzi . After the mountains, several rivers receive libations.
War dance
On the roof of the temple, in the "face of the stars", three musicians dance with the weather god and sing battle songs. After a fourth musician has blown his horn in the temple gate, a priest on the roof speaks to the king: “Oh, king, do not despair! The weather god has laid enemies and hostile countries at your feet, the king, so that you can break them like empty pots. ”15 soldiers, armed with a large hammer, clubs and lances, now begin a second war dance with the musicians.
A sacrifice for the god of war Zababa is being prepared in a place near the temple . A soldier brings meat from a beef from its temple, which he places on the sacrificial table. Then sacrifices are made to the god of war, with the musicians swaying their hips.
After the dance, the lelluri is sacrificed in the temple of the weather god of Manuzi, in which bread is placed at each corner of the hearth, barley porridge, figs and olives are placed on top and a little olive oil is poured into each corner. After the bread is broken, the fruits are thrown into the stove and wine is given.
Salvation offering
A priest asks the weather god for the salvation and protection of the king, queen, their children and grandchildren. If he fulfills this, the ḫišuwa festival is celebrated every year. Now the elders of the cities of Kummanni , Zunnaḫara, Adaniya , Tarša and Ellibra, all located in Kizzuwatna, appear before the king. The offerings they brought with them, bread, flour, cheese, wine and sheep, are brought to the six temples and offered to all the gods for the salvation of the year. The river goddess Puruna, possibly Pyramos, is one of the sacrificed deities . At the end of the sacrifices, the respective statuettes are brought to a certain place in a basket and ritually cleaned.
The golden eagle Eribuški standing on the shoulder of the weather god of Manuzi is also cleaned, then placed on a table where it receives bread and wine.
The great gathering
The great national gods gather in the temple of the weather god of Manuzi. Accompanied by a male choir, the king drinks first for Ḫebat and then, one after the other, all of the deities in their kaluti circle . After that, the gods and the king are anointed. After the purification of the temple courtyard, the court genius Ḫilašši and his staffs are brought to the house of the priest-king. The statuette is washed and anointed and the wands are covered with white, blue and red woolen cloths and then wrapped in a white cloth. The usual sacrificial rituals follow, with the king consecrating a cattle and a sheep with a cedar branch. The ebat is again offered to the kaluti circle. After the sacrifice, the king bows three times “for appeasement”. Each time the priest hits him on the back with the Ḫilašši's staff. Before the king sits down again, he kisses the staffs. This soothing ritual is also performed with the gentlemen seated in front of the king. The whole ceremony repeats itself after one has libated the " favorable day ". Finally, the ilašši statuette is anointed and the wands returned to their place. After a libation, the king bows to Ḫilašši and ends the eighth day of the festival.
The ḫišuwa festival ends after the statuette of Ḫilašši was transferred to the temple of the weather god of Manuzi on the ninth day.
See also
literature
- Volkert Haas : History of the Hittite religion (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Volume 1.15). Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09799-6 .