The activities of the Fourth Annual Syriac Heritage Festival, organised by the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts’ Syriac Heritage and Museum Directorate, began on the afternoon of Thursday 4 April 2024, in its usual location opposite the ancient Qasra Mound, in the heart of Erbil Governorate’s Ankawa District.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Cardinal Mar Louis Raphael Sako, the Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Diocese of Mosul, Kirkuk and Iraqi Kurdistan, Mar Nicodemus Daoud Matti Sharaf, the Archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of Urmia, Mar Thomas Meram, and Fr. Martin, representing the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa Royel III, son of President Barzani, Mr. Mulla Mustafa Barzani, Kurdistan Regional Government Transport and Communications Minister Anu Jawhar Abdoka, Deputy Culture and Youth Minister Aryan Salah al-Din, Head of the Regional Government’s Foreign Relations Office, Safin Dizayi, Governor of Erbil Omid Khoshnaw, in addition to local Ankawa District officials and a large crowd of the region’s people.
The festival began its activities with a majestic procession that started from Ankawa Exemplary High School (Bardaran) to the festival site, led by the Syriac bride of dioceses scouts, then a royal carriage surmounted by the goddess Ishtar, the symbol of love and beauty, represented by “Miss Iraq” Maria Farhad, in a scene that simulated the procession of religious celebrations in ancient Babylon.
After arriving at the festival site, Cardinal Mar Louis Sako, Bishop Mar Nicodemus Daoud Matti Sharaf, and Mr. Mulla Mustafa Masoud Barzani cut the opening ribbon, thus announcing the start of the festival’s activities, which will continue for three consecutive days.
Cardinal Sako then gave a speech on the occasion, in which he thanked all those working to organise and hold this great popular carnival, which represents the depth of our people’s civilisation in Iraq and the region, pointing also to the spirit of peaceful coexistence that characterizes the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, which helped attract the majority of Iraqi Christians to settle there.
The Transport and Communications Minister then delivered a speech from the Regional Government, in which he emphasised the ongoing support that the current government gives to the religious and national components that inhabit the region, while he referred in his speech to the role of the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, with its current management, in organising these popular and heritage events annually in Ankawa.
After the welcoming speeches were delivered, the Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts, Kaldo Ramzi Oghanna, presented a painting of handicrafts from the work of the artist Alan Bet-Shmuel to Mr. Mulla Mustafa Masoud Barzani. After this, an operetta titled “Akhnan Kulleh Athra” (We are all the Homeland) was presented, written by Nineb Lamassu, and composed by Nabil Yousif.
After that, folkloric singing performances began, presented by groups coming from different countries to participate in the festival, especially the “Sargon” folkloric dance group, which is participating for the first time from the Armenian capital Yerevan, the “Barmaya” ensemble from the city of Qamishli in Syria, in addition to the Syriac Arts Ensemble of the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
The ceremony included the opening of the popular handicrafts and heritage bazaar, in which a large number of those interested and specialised in the field of heritage works, folkloric crafts, and handicrafts participated, in addition to the presence of a heritage café and the heritage kitchen adjacent to the heritage bakery, during which the participating ladies presented a number of traditional dishes from our people’s various regions throughout the days of the festival.
The first day of the festival included the presentation of singing performances in which a number of our people’s artists participated, including Onel Rehana, Ramsen Shadrak, Stanley Rabban, Sako Saka and Zana Majeed. These continued until 9:30 in the evening.
It is worth noting that the Kurdistan Regional Government’s General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts has been organising a Syriac heritage festival in April every year, during which various heritage and popular events are held, and this year it will be held for the period of 4 to 6 April 2024.
