Purulli is a spring festival acquired by the Hittites from the Hatti, previous occupants of the Anatolian lands. It also celebrates the Hittite New Year.
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The Hittites rise to power in Anatolia about 1600 BCE. They assimilate the pre-existing Hatti people and adopt much of their mythology, pantheon and sacred rites.
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They keep the name Land of the Hatti, by which people know these regions. They also retain many of the Hattic traditions. Fierce warriors, the Hittites also know the advantages of alliance vs. attack.
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The Festival of Purulli (Puruli, Purulliya) is a spring celebration dedicated to the mother Goddess Hannahanna. A high point to the revelry is her marriage to a new king. Hannahanna is an earth mother figure and the wedding symbolizes the beginning of the new year's cycle.
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The ritual also centers around the story of the dragon Illuyanka, the embodiment of Winter. The Storm God can't defeat the dragon but Inara, the Hatti Goddess of Wild Animals, has an idea.
The Purulli Festival has similarities to Akitu or Akitum, the Assyrian and Mesopotamian celebration of spring and the new year. It's held on the first day of the Babylonian Nesin (Nissan, Nisanu), the fourth month, corresponding to April in the western calendar.
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The Akitu festival lasts for twelve days, also called the 12 Days of Zagmuk, with different rituals and observances dedicated to various days. The whole city celebrates among the different cultural classes:
awilu (upper class)
muskena (middle class)
wardu (lower class)
High Priest
King
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Here it's the Babylonian hero Marduk who prevails against the dragon. The dragon is chaos personified, Tiamat the Queen of the Primal Seas. In physical form Tiamat may appear as a woman or a snake-monster.
In today's Anatolia (Turkey), people celebrate the festival as Nevruz and it begins March 21. At the time of the Hittites, Nevruz is known as Purilli or Purulliya comes from the prefix pur-, a Hattian term. Purilli means variously earth, place or country.
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On clay cuneiform tablets the word is written various ways, such as puruli-, purulli-, ṷuurulli-, puruliš-, ṷurulliya-, purulliya-, purulliyan or purulliyaš. In Hurrian it means house or temple. House can also mean temple, as in the Mountain Houses of gods.
The Purilli festival also includes the appeasement and reverence of such gods as Telipinu, the agriculture god, and Tarhunna (Tarhunz) the storm god. The Legend of Telipinu describes the fate of the Earth when Telipinu disappears.
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The traditional site of the Purilli Festival is in northern Anatolia at Nerik. After the capture of Nerik by Kaskians in the 15th century BCE, the festival is moved to Hattusa, the Hittite capital.
There, the celebrations are twice as grand, with plenty of food, spectacles, contests, theatrics and acrobatics, music, and dancing. Apart from its other functions the feast honors the sowing of barley.
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An important part of the festival is known as "the ritual of the city of Nerik". Here, the King is accepted by the Gods to rule another year.
Altogether the Purulli celebrations at Hattusa and throughout the country last about a month. The King undertakes a ceremonial journey from Hattusa.
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He stops at Taṷiniya and Ṷarkataṷi, from there to Zippalanda. From there he might go to Arinna, Kashtama and finally, Nerik. Due to the Kaska takeover with their allies in the north, the final part of the journey is for a while amended.
Festivities are not carved in stone and can vary depending on the Hittite ruler at the time. For example, during the reign of Muṷatalli II, the short form of the holiday to honor Telipinu is celebrated in the region of Utruna.
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While the city of Nerik is under Kaska control, Nerik rituals are held in Hapkis (Ḫakmiš(ša) Ḫakpiš(ša) or Utruna. Sacrifices are given to Telipinu and other deities according to ritual guidelines. Later the people partake of the feast.
With the recapture of Nerik by Hittite King Hattusili(s) III, the Purulliya Festival returns to its ancestral home. Queen Puduhepa, also a High Priestess, takes the journey with the King and their son.
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Puduhepa is among the most influential women of the ancient world. She introduces the gods of southern Anatolia into the north. She lists, categorizes and promotes the thousands of Hittite deific entities. Her diplomacy wins powerful friends. She's also a driving force behind the signing of the world's first peace treaty.
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