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Religious festivals have featured as a central aspect of civilization for thousands of years, the earliest thought to be celebrations of the New Year and the concept of rebirth and new beginnings that accompanied it. The first such festival to be recorded is the Akitu festival at Babylon c. 2000 BCE.
The Akitu festival, a celebration of the New Year, evolved from the Sumerian celebration known as Zagmuk. Whether Zagmuk was the first such festival observed in the world is debated as there could have been others much older celebrated by the Indus Valley Civilization which are unknown as their script has not been deciphered. Most likely, as with dogs in the ancient world, religious festivals developed in various civilizations independently and were probably based on earlier, prehistoric, observances.
The following gallery presents only a small sample of worldwide religious festivals ranging from the Mesopotamian Akitu through the North American Sun Dance and Celtic Pagan sabbats designated by the Wheel of the Year. Those festivals still observed today adhere to the paradigm of the ancient rites in celebrating rebirth, renewal, and transformation.
Questions & Answers
What is the oldest recorded religious festival in the world?
- The oldest recorded religious festival in the world is the Babylonian New Year's festival of Akitu (c. 2000 BCE) which developed from the earlier Sumerian Zagmuk.
What was the purpose of the earliest religious festivals?
- It is thought that prehistoric religious festivals celebrated the New Year and rebirth/renewal of the earth, and these then developed into New Year's festivals.
Is the Persian festival of Nowruz the oldest festival in the world?
- The Persian festival of Nowruz is a celebration of the New Year and most likely developed from the Akitu festival of Babylon. It is not the oldest religious festival in the world as these had been observed for at least 1500 years prior to the rise of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
How were the earliest religious festivals celebrated?
- The earliest religious festivals, like the Akitu Festival of Babylon, were celebrated with parades, various ritual observances, veneration of a deity or deities, dancing, drinking, and feasting.
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About the Author
![Joshua J. Mark]()
Joshua J. Mark is World History Encyclopedia's co-founder and Content Director. He was previously a professor at Marist College (NY) where he taught history, philosophy, literature, and writing. He has traveled extensively and lived in Greece and Germany.
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Uploaded by Joshua J. Mark, published on 05 December 2024. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
