Bakhdida - Festivals

Festivals

• Christmas

On Christmas Eve people in Bakhdida enjoy the Fire that is lit in the yard of the church of immaculate locally known Tahra. Wild plants are collected ahead of the big celebration, a known family is devoted to gather the plants and anybody can volunteer for this task too. Big mass is held on Christmas Eve and all children and crowds of people sing Christmas carols.

On Christmas Day people visit each other and have special meals with their relatives and friends. Most people sacrifice animals, prepare Christmas cookies locally known as Klecha; a very special treat stuffed with walnut, coconut or dates.

• Mar Keryakos

Mar Karyakos is actually ruins of a monastery located about a kilometer east of Bakhdida and lies amid agricultural fields. The monastery consists of three caves that are carved naturally in a hilly rock formed geologically of hardened pebbles. In the middle cave which is the largest stands what looks like an altar formed of piled stones. The altar is lit with candles by believers who visit it once a year on the Sunday before Palm Sunday. Offers are given for the needy people of Bakhdida, after prayers families picnic in the fields that surround the monastery.

Very special treat is prepared ahead of this day from wheat. The wheat is washed, soaked in salt water for three days and then dried in the direct sunlight. After it is completely dry the grains are roasted in special pan locally known SACH on the stove. Melon seeds are washed, salted, dried and roasted the same way as the wheat then mixed with the roasted wheat.

The final treat is called "kitikelie" that has very delicious taste.

• Palm Sunday

The Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday or Oshana. It is the beginning of Holy Week and celebrates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Great crowds of people parade the streets of Bakhdida waving olive branches to welcome him. The procession starts at the church of immaculate and ends at the church of John. The people shout "Oshana to the son of David”.

• Holy Thursday

In Bakhdida big mass is held at the Church of Immaculate to commemorate what Jesus did with his disciples. It starts as an ordinary mass but includes a dramatic ritual of the washing and kissing the feet of twelve children.

• The Triumph of the Cross

The feast of The Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Traditionally, people attend mass and in the evening they lit fires in the streets of Bakhdida and decorate the exterior of their houses with outdoor lights.

• Good Friday

Traditionally, in Bakhdida, the Church of Immaculate where the Good Friday prayers are held all Virgin Mary’s pictures are covered with black cloth as a symbol of her sorrow as well as a bitter drink is prepared from boiling local tree twigs and flowers. Later, on this morning the bell rings for inviting people to drink it as a symbol of the bitter drink that was offered for Jesus while on the cross.The cross is then wrapped in white fabric and kept in a coffin, and in the afternoon burial prayers are held.

• Kha b-Nisan

Banned prior to the American invasion, this national Assyrian festival has started to gain popularity between youths in the last decade.