The Feast of Zagmuk begins in December and lasts twelve days. The name Zagmuk comes from the Sumerian term for 'beginning of the year'. The feast celebrates the victory of hero god Marduk over the forces of Chaos.
The god Marduk holds considerable influence in ancient Mesopotamia. Originally the patron god of the city of Babylon, founded in the 23rd century BCE , Marduk is at first a minor deity. The glory of Babylon is yet to come.
Marduk is mentioned in writings of the 3rd millennium BCE. An unnamed ruler builds a temple to him in an unnamed city. Babylon rises to prominence in the reign of Hammurabi 1792 to 1750 BCE. With it rises Marduk.
The snake dragon Mušḫuššu (Mushhushshu) becomes the symbolic animal and servant of Marduk after the god defeats him in a battle. A hybrid of several creatures, Mušḫuššu is loyal and helpful.
He's one of the "horned snakes" of ancient Mesopotamian mythology and can make his body very long to very short. Other horned snakes include Ushumgallu (Exalted), Bashmu (Venomous) and Musmahhu (Furious).
The festive days of Zagmuk begin on the first day of the first month. In the Persian calendar the first month is March. In c. 700 BCE, Roman king Numa Pompilius brings January and February into the calendar, making March the third month.
The Twelve Days celebrate the triumph of Marduk over the forces of Chaos, symbolized by the chaos sea goddess Tiamat and her monstrous creations. The battle between Marduk and Chaos lasts 12 days.
In Uruk the same festival is associated with An or Anu, all-powerful Sumerian god. Both are essentially equivalent to the Akkadian "Akitu" festival. In some variations, Marduk is killed by Tiamat on the winter solstice, and resurrected on the spring equinox.
During the Twelve Days of Zagmuk, revels reverberate through the land. The story of Marduk battling the powers of Chaos is acted out in the royal court, with the King playing the part of Marduk. His son and rescuer / resurrector is Nabu, god of writing.
Freed from the Underworld, the King undertakes the rite of hieros gamos and has sex with his 'spouse', a high priestess of the special priest class naditum. She has vowed a type of chastity, a refusal to have children.
Many centuries later, the hieros gamos is a vital element of alchemy. It's the conjunction of the Red King and White Queen, the union of opposites.
The high priestess, also called the entu, and her ritual act of intercourse with the King is
a re-enactment of the primordial couple An and Ki, who bring the world into existence. The God Enlil separates them so the Earth can be made habitable for humans.
If an eclipse of the sun falls on any of the 12 days, a surrogate King is put in place of the real King. Any evils which might affect the King then gravitate to the substitute. Not all ersatz kings are volunteers, though it's possible some are unaware of their impending fate.
Eclipse or not, on the last day of Zagmuk, the King is slain so he can battle at Marduk's side. Due to problems of offing a king each year, the people use a mock monarch. He's a criminal anointed as King at the beginning of Zagmuk, and killed the last day.
The tradition of appointing a fake King is later one of the themes of Narrenfest, or Feast of Fools in Germany, similar to the Lord of Misrule in England and Saturnalia of Rome. In these later festivities a King is chosen for the day.
It must be a man of low standing, a beggar, petty criminal or even a woman. The ceremonies involve switching status and gender roles, showing utmost disrespect to authority figures, heavy drinking and manic dancing. The King makes up ridiculous orders everyone must obey.
At the end of these festivities the King is returned to his former lowly status and Chaos is defeated once more. The traditional date of Narrenfest is the first day of the first month of the year.
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