Ishtar Eggs and Tammuz Trees

Tiglath Chibo
Australia

Introduction

The ancient Babylonians used many myths about their Gods to explain nature.
The pre-eminent myth of the seasons however remains to this day one of the
greatest stories ever told.

The myth is the love story of the God Tammuz and the Goddess Ishtar. This same
love story along with the resurrection, death, marriage and birth of Tammuz are
holidays used to explain a fertility ritual connected to the agricultural birth-life-
death-and-renewal cycle. In the myth Ishtar symbolises the lunar and female
reproductive cycle, whereas Tammuz symbolises the cycle of the seasons.

Holiday & Season

Date
Babylonian
Month
Babylonian
Zodiac Sign
Equivalent Modern Holiday
Babylonian Traditions

Resurrection of Tammuz
20 March
Nissan (Apr)
The Labourer or Messenger
Easter
Nooruz (Persian/Kurdish)
- Ishtar Eggs
- Rabbits
- Nissan's Beard (Dikhna d'Neesan)

Spring Equinox 20 April

Iyyar (May)
“Bull of heaven”

Day equals Night 21 May

Khzeran (Jun)
The Faithful Shepherd or Twins

Death of Tammuz 20 June Tammuz (Jul) Crab or Scorpion Noosardel (West)

Birth of St. John the Baptist - Fasting for 40 days.
Summer Solstice 21 July
 Ab (Aug)
The big dog(Lion)
- Weeping for Tammuz
Longest Day 23 August
Elul (Sep)
Ishtar, the virgin's ear of corn
- Sprinkling of Water.
Marriage of Tammuz & Ishtar
22 September
Tisri (Oct)
The balance
Feast of the Holy Cross - Honey collection
- Slaughtering of animals for winter
- Marriage feast

Autumn Equinox 22 October

Marcheswan (Nov)
Scorpion of darkness

Day equals Night 21 November

Chisleu (Dec)
Man or man-horse with bow

Birth of Tammuz 21 December Tebet (Jan) Ea's goat fish Christmas - Burning of
Yule(Yala) log.
- Decoration of Tammuz tree

Winter Solstice 19 January

Sebat (Feb)
God with water urn Ea?

Longest Night
18 February
Adar (Mar)
Fish tails in canal

The Original Myth

At their first encounter, Ishtar is said to have fallen in love with the shepherd boy
Tammuz who in turn asks for her hand in marriage. The Holy Marriage of Ishtar
and Tammuz takes place and Tammuz is elevated to the god of fertility. As a
result, their marriage endows the earth with fertility, and the cyclical renewal of
life is ensured. [1]

But a terrible day was to come when Ishtar would lose her lover, and would have
to travel to the ends of the earth, and endure much pain and suffering, in order
to bring him back.

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 finally descends to the netherworld to rescue Tammuz from “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, but
to a partial reprieve only; whereby Tammuz spends six months in the world of the
living and the following six months in the netherworld . Hence Tammuz is
restored to life in the netherworld and together with his lover Ishtar they
triumphantly return to earth on the first day of spring and the start of the New
Year in Beth Nahrain.

Over the centuries as the myth was passed from generation to generation the
love story was further elaborated. The expanded version of the myth explains
how Ishtar's husband Tammuz, who was also her son and her brother, came
together with Ishtar in the world. She bore him, she made love with him and yet
she remained a virgin.

After Tammuz was killed by a wild boar, Ishtar put ashes on her head and
mourned for 40 days, giving up all pleasures and food. But then, she discovers
that she is pregnant. She declares that it is a miraculous conception and in
celebration of this miraculous pregnancy, this divine fertility, she has an egg of
gold made, calling it the golden egg of Ishtar.

Ishtar searches for Tammuz all over the world. And finally finds him in the
netherworld and eventually brings him back to life. Tammuz is resurrected and
the vegetation again flourishes.

The History

The Resurrection of Ishtar and Tammuz , also known as Easter (Ishtar), was not a
new holiday. Before Christianity it was celebrated throughout the Roman Empire
and is even mentioned in Acts 12:4 being celebrated by King Herod. “And when
he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four
quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to
the people.”

Then ancient Babylonians also celebrated this event by colouring eggs and
rabbits were used to symbolise fertility and the God Tammuz.
In ancient Babylon when Tammuz died, the followers of Ishtar joined her in
mourning and proclaimed a forty day period of sorrow each year prior to the
anniversary of the death of Tammuz. During this time, no meat was to be eaten.
Thus the practice of mourning for the loss of the "son of god" was adopted by
many for centuries thereafter. This act was later "Christianised" and given the
name of Lent. Today Easter falls right after the observance of the forty days of
Lent.

In Beth Nahrain, during the time of growth when the first rains after the long
summer fell, the people also celebrated the festival known as the Holy Marriage
of Ishtar and Tammuz - yearly at the autumn equinox - which brought the land
fertility and growth yet again. Tammuz had returned from the netherworld and
made love with Ishtar again. This time was also the second harvest, the harvest
of the fruits, a time of winemaking and the slaughtering of animals in preparation
for winter.

The Death of Tammuz also known as Noosardel (sprinkling water on the path of
God) was another holiday celebrated with an early morning worship service in
which the penitents face east as seen during Ezekiel's time (Ezekial 8:14) when
the women wept for Ishtar's son. “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of
the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women
weeping for Tammuz.”

In each legend, Tammuz dies young and his birth is honoured on his birthday
which coincided with the Winter Solstice. This was celebrated around December
21 st . Part of the religious ritual involved cutting down a young evergreen tree
as a way of commemorating the premature death of Tammuz. Along with this the
Babylonians would also burn a Yala (Yule) log, called "the log of the son.” It was
burned in the fire to symbolise the death of Tammuz. The next day the evergreen
tree would be decorated with silver and gold. The log that was burned was now
alive again as the Tammuz tree. The Old Testament book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah
10:3-4) also describes how the Birth of Tammuz was celebrated in ancient
Babylon , "..for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the
workman, with the ax; They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it move not."

Conversion by Force

In 313AD, while battling to become the new emperor of Rome , Constantine

claimed that he saw a burning cross in the sky, with the words, "in this sign,
conquer." After emerging victorious from the battle he finally gave Christians
freedom of worship throughout the Roman Empire .

It was not until 380 AD that Emperor Theodosius introduced legislation that
affirmed the dogmas of the Council of Nicaea and made church membership
compulsory. By 393AD, he 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. [2] Any who would
dare to hold to any other form of worship were considered heretics and would
suffer severe punishment from the state.

The people of Babylon who, at the time, practiced the Babylonian religion, its
priests and its practices, were assimilated into the Christian church by force.
With the Christian church no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of till the
third century and it was not till the fourth century was far advanced that it
gained much observance. The late-December holiday when they burned the Yala
log and decorated the evergreen Tammuz tree was given the name Christmas,
presumably to celebrate the birth of Christ. The autumn marriage feast
celebrating the marriage of Tammuz and Ishtar was renamed by Emperor
Constantine to the Feast of the Holy Cross. Ishtar the queen of heaven and her
child became the Madonna and child. The spring holiday of the golden egg of
Ishtar was called Easter, and given the meaning of observing the resurrection of
Christ, not Tammuz.

Conclusion

According to ancient Babylonian myths and history, the resurrection, death,

marriage and birth of Tammuz and Ishtar are ancient Babylonian holidays that
have never left us. Hijacked by the Roman Empire and then “repackaged” as
Christian holidays, they remain stark evidence of the depth and piety the ancient
people of Beth Nahrain once held for their ancient Gods.

References

[1] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, Donald A. Mackenzie, pp 305-325

[2] Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol 18, p.926.

______________________

[Author's Note: On this occasion I would like to wish all our people in Iraq , and
around the world, a Happy Ishtar holiday. Let's all pray that our homeland,
symbolised by our God Tammuz, will one day be resurrected and return from its
current state in the netherworld. The Ishtar holiday is today more important than
ever as it gives the people of Iraq hope for a new beginning and a brighter
future.]