Akitu is the ancient Babylonian festival often described as an early celebration of the New Year.
Akitu was a major Mesopotamian religious festival connected with the renewal of kingship, agriculture, and the cosmic order. In Babylon, the principal observance took place in the month of Nisanu, corresponding roughly to March or April rather than the modern January 1 New Year. The date followed the spring season and the agricultural cycle.
The festival included processions, rituals, hymns, and the movement of divine images between important temples. In Babylon, the god Marduk held a central role, and the king participated in ceremonies affirming his authority and the proper order of the kingdom. Texts describe a procession along the ceremonial way to a special festival house outside the city.
Akitu is often called one of the world’s oldest New Year festivals, but it was not a direct version of today’s global midnight celebration. Ancient calendars were regional and lunar or lunisolar, so the festival date and meaning differed sharply from the fixed civil New Year used in the modern Gregorian calendar.