Subj: ZENDA I (Vol II,#49 ; 1/27/97) Date: 97-01-27 03:57:03 EST From: zenda@ix.netcom.com (ZENDA) To: zenda@ix.netcom.com Kanoon (II) 27, 6746 January 27, 1997 zzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz zz z zzzzzzzzz z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z zzzzzzz z z z z z zzzzzzz z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z zzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz z zz zzzzzzz z z Volume II, Issue 49 A Weekly Online Publication of ZENDA Assyrian Newsagency -Section 1 of 2- =========================================================================== T H I S W E E K I N Z E N D A =========================================================================== -Section One- The Lighthouse...................... Rogation of the Ninevites Good Morning Bet-Nahrain............ Earthquakes Rock Bet-Nahrain Surfs Up............................ "...the vapidity of our conventions." Surfers Corner...................... More on Assyrian Names News Digest......................... 800-Year-Old Assyrian Church in Syria Uday May Be Paralyzed News Bits........................... Iranian Ship Rescued Near Italy Baghdad Has Sold Over M10 Barrels of Oil -Section Two- Calendar of Events.................. Dr. Fuller's Lecture: U./Missouri Entracte............................ No Entries! Intelligentsia...................... Classes, Lectures & Meetings Assyrian Surfing Posts.............. Sumerian Beer Pump up the Volume.................. Doubt & Courage Back to the Future.................. Esarhadon Captures Memphis Alphonse Mingana's Collection Literatus........................... A Boy's Wish This Week in History................ General Agha Potrous d'Baz Bravo............................... Stefan Maul: English Translation The Directory....................... News Sources Bshena.............................. Sweden, Holland, Canada, California... Salute.............................. Firas and Adrin =========================================================================== THE L I G H T H O U S E ===========================================================================
BAOUTA'S NINEWAYE or THE ROGATION OF THE NINEVITES
Baouta’d Ninevaye or the Rogation of the Ninevites commemorates the repentance of the people of Nineveh at the preaching of Jewish Prophet, Jonah. In the Old Testament section of the Bible the story of Jonah is written as a prophetic teaching. The historical Johah was one of the twelve minor Jewish prophets who lived sometimes during the reign of the Jewish king, Jeroboam II (783-743 BC). Jonah’s story is one of the most familiar stories of the Old Testament: God instruct Jonah to go to Nineveh and condemn Assyrians for their “wickedness.” Instead Jonah runs away. He boards a ship bound for Spain, but the ship encounters a storm. The passengers cast Johah into the sea and he is then swallowed by a great fish, traditionally thought to be a whale. After three days in the belly of the fish, Johah is coughed up and travels to Nineveh. The Ninevites repent and God withholds his judgment against a non-Israelite nation, hence demonstrating concern for all humans. For Assyrians the Rogation of Ninevite has both a nationalistic and spiritual significance: In this way Assyrians were always reminded of Nineveh throughout the history until the ruins of Nineveh were discovered in early half of the 19th Century. Assyrians were also reminded of their importance in the history of the Church and spiritual development of Judeo-Christian tradition, for the Ninevites symbolized the longing of all humans for a universal God. Traditionally, during the three days of Baouta (fasting) a young man or woman would abstain from all food and water. At the end of the fasting period he or she would partake of three handfuls of parched barley, mixed with a like amount of salt, and then sleep. Throughout Bet-Nahrain, Assyrians have concocted different recipe's for such salty mixture or "pookhon" as it's called. While sleeping with a great desire to replenish his or her thirst, the dreamer was certain to visit a lover, bringing cool water from a deep well. The bearer of the life-giving drink would then be pursued as the future "bar-zowga" or mate. Baouta d’Ninevaye or the Rogation of Ninevites is an important Assyrian tradition which must be noted for its historic and spiritual significance. ZENDA =========================================================================== G O O D M O R N I N G B E T - N A H R A I N ===========================================================================
EARTHQUAKES ROCK NORTHERN BET-NAHRAIN
(ZNRU: Ankara) Two earthquakes measuring 3.8 and 5.5 on the Richter scale shook northern Bet-Nahain in Turkey and Syria last Wednesday evening. Five people were injured and a number of homes were damaged near the Syrian-Turkish border. An earthquake shook Beirut at about the same time and a Lebanese seismologist said it measured 5.7 on the Richter scale. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Lebanon. In Turkey the quakes was felt in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Adana. Nearly 40 houses were damaged in Denizli province in central-western Turkey. Earthquakes measuring around five on the Richter scale are powerful enough to cause heavy damage in such populated areas of Bet-Nahrain. =========================================================================== S U R F S U P ! =========================================================================== "Please try to be brief and to to the point when you report news and other matter so that people won't waste time in reading the Zenda! Also, you should include some thing related to engineering, etc. Best Wishes for 1997." Dr. Sam Haddad California
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"Thank you for reprinting a most interesting passage from William Daniel's 'Assyrians of Today: Their Problem and a Solution.' Daniel is a widely respected Assyrian thinker, and many of his social observations are especially astute. Unfortunately, notwithstqanding the promise in the title of this essay, Daniel does not really have any magic to offer as a 'Solution'. On the other hand, his comments about the ostentation and self-delusion practiced by many Assyrians, whether it is in their "annual Convention", or at other events, is right on the mark. It is difficult to understand the airs that are put on by holding annual conventions in expensive hotels, where some of our Assyrian women like to flaunt the latest in expensive fur fashions. Never mind about any awareness of any issue which besets the Assyrians and which should be the principal preoccupation of any convention. I have heard our conventions described as propitious 'meat markets', and one can make the argument that it is better for young, single people to be looking over one another at one of our Conventions instead of a cocktail bar in Podunk, USA. But there is no excuse for the vapidity of our conventions. We feature no educational programs, no panels to discuss our history, or the U.S. political system (and how to make it work for us). The method of conducting 'convention business' is primitive, to put it charitably. Elections are poorly organized. There is no system in place to enable candidates to speak on the issues, and to answer questions, WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE VOTING. It seems to me that each Federation election seems to be a contest between a couple of 'power blocs'. It is unclear why either of these blocks would ever have any beneficial result for our general welfare. Instead, the so-called power blocs tend to be dedicated to the perpetuation of power. In this sense, there is little difference between the so-called mainstream groups which can be seen attending the Federation Convention, or the Bet Nahrain group in Ceres (which never changes 'Chairman', no matter how many elections take place). Other than self-aggrandizement, there is evidence of very little else about the 'common good', either in discussions or in programs. Lots of talk, indeed, just as Daniel bemoaned. When are some younger Assyrians going to take over, and bring some fresh perspective to the Federation?" Francis Sarguis Santa Barbara, California =========================================================================== S U R F E R S C O R N E R =========================================================================== "Shlama Amookhn, Thank you for reply and few suggestions, but I am still looking for a LIST of Assyrian names/phrases that have very nice meanings. For example what is the meaning of the name of Assyrian King Abgar/Abkar/Aogar(O' Gar) or Sargon. I found a list of names and their meanings in the internet under http://www.zelo.com/firstnames/, but they were not Assyrian names. Do you know of any Assyrian site that has compiled a similar list. Thanks again." Best regards, Sam Kosa San Diego, California [For a complete list of ancient Assyrian names and their meanings see K.L. Tallqvist's "Assyrian Personal Names." Copies of this book can be ordered from Nabu Books: P.O. Box 59422, Chicago, Illinois 60659, U.S.] =========================================================================== N E W S D I G E S T =========================================================================== AN 800-YEARS-OLD ASSYRIAN CHURCH DISCOVERED IN SYRIA (ZNDA: St. Louis) Recent excavations at Tell Tuneinir in Syria have unearthed a contemporaneous mosque and a church. Inscriptions, art, and architecture provide important clues to the multi-ethnic community that flourished at Tuneinir during the 13th century AD. The church is especially significant because of its evidence for the Aramaic-speaking congregations of ancient Bet-Nahrain. According to a report by Michael and Neathery Fuller of St. Louis Community Collge in Missouri a cistern was discovered west of the church in 1994, filled with domestic and functional refuse used in daily church functions by the Assyrian priest. In great abundance are discarded animal bones and eggshells, evidence of the diet and availability of certain foods during the 9th to the 11th centuries at Tuneinir. Tentative interpretations of the inscriptions found have been made by Ibrahim Nanno (Hasake office of the Department of Antiquities), Archbishop Matta Roham (Syrian Orthodox Church) and Archmandrite Gerarkis Athneil (Assuri Christian Church). Two identical inscriptions from loci 305022 and 305024 were written in the Estangela or Edessean Syriac script. For a more complete report of this excavation visit http://fv.stlcc.cc.mo.us/mfuller/tuneinir/. See this week's CALENDAR OF EVENTS for Dr. Fuller's lecture at St. Louis Community College, Kansas City, Missouri. SADDAM'S SON MAY BE PARARLIZED, 600 ARRESTS TO DATE (ZNMN: Baghdad) More than a month after he was machine-gunned while sitting in his Prosche in Baghdad, the eldest son of Saddam Hussei- Uday Hussein, 32- still has not been pictured standing. There are suggestions that he may have been wounded more seriously than first reported, possibly paralyzed. Last week, Uday was engaged to a 16-year-old Iraqi girl from his home town of Tikrit. A leading Iraqi opposition figure in Syria reports that so far nearly 600 suspects, including 20 high-ranking military officials, have been arrested. =========================================================================== N E W S B I T s =========================================================================== (ZNRU) ROME- About 100 illegal Iranian, possibly Christian immigrants, were rescued from a ship that was sinking off the coast of southern Italy Friday in the latest emergency to strike a tide of economic refugees desperate to start a new life in the West. BAGHDAD- Iraq has exported a total of 10.1 million barrels of crude oil through its Gulf oil terminal since starting limited oil exports in mid-December, the ruling Baath party newspaper al-Thawra said Thursday. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -End of Section 1 of 2 ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- From zenda@ix.netcom.com Mon Jan 27 03:56:26 1997 Return-Path: zenda@ix.netcom.com Received: from dfw-ix11.ix.netcom.com (dfw-ix11.ix.netcom.com [206.214.98.11]) by emin38.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id DAA09388; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 03:56:16 -0500 Received: from walkhas-pc.3com.com ([139.87.67.232]) by dfw-ix11.ix.netcom.com (8.6.13/8.6.12) with SMTP id XAA00153; Sun, 26 Jan 1997 23:28:39 -0800 Message-Id: <3.0.32.19970126233152.00698358@popd.ix.netcom.com> X-Sender: zenda@popd.ix.netcom.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 Demo (32) Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 23:37:46 -0800 To: zenda@ix.netcom.com From: ZENDA Subject: ZENDA I (Vol II,#49 ; 1/27/97) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable