The Babylonian New Year festival was called Akitu. It was one of the most important religious celebrations in Babylonian society and was held in the first month of the Babylonian calendar, Nisan.
Akitu combined worship, public ceremony, royal ritual, and the renewal of cosmic order. In Babylon, the image of the god Marduk was carried in processions between major temples, while priests recited passages from the creation epic Enuma Elish.
The king had a central ceremonial role. A high priest symbolically removed his royal insignia and struck him, after which the king affirmed his innocence and resumed his authority. This ritual expressed submission to Marduk and the restoration of kingship.
Akitu is sometimes treated as simply a secular New Year celebration, but it was deeply theological. Its ceremonies linked the agricultural cycle, the city of Babylon, the king, and the supremacy of Marduk.