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Sumerian Religion and Ritual
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The Sumerian religion, which was not considered separate from secular
life, consumed almost all of daily life. The Sumerians were surrounded
by and carried around figurines of the gods and goddesses everyday for
protection. The elemental forces around us (forces of nature) were
actually human to the Sumerians. The Sumerians had a great fear for the
gods and thought their fate depended on them. As a result, much of
their daily lives were devoted to propitiating and honoring the gods.
However, the Sumerian people didn't believe in life after
death-immortality was only for the gods. They believed their souls went
to the underworld after their death. One of the key concepts of Sumer
life was their belief in something called me (pronounced may). Me is a
set of universal laws that ruled over everything. The Sumerians
believed that they were created to be servants to the gods. Everyone
must be submissive and obey the decisions made by their gods, no matter
how unjust the laws may be. So, essentially, they had no free will.
They never, it is believed, questioned the hardships or suffering
bestowed on them from the almighty gods. Me existed for things like
fear, strife, "the troubled heart", natural destruction such as floods
and destruction of cities. The gods weren't expected to help the common
man. When a man needed help, he turned to a lower level of the divine-
a personal god. He addressed all his prayers to the "father who begot
him".
Because of this servant relationship, it was essential that the
Sumerian man honor the gods daily. This was accomplished through
attending and participating in various religious ceremonies and
rituals.
There were a tremendous number of rituals that the Sumerians followed. The temples, which were the center of the religious and economic
life of the Sumerians, were often the place of many sacrifices to the
gods. There were offering tables, statues of important officials, and
"cult-statues" in the temples which were the places of many offerings
and prayers. A hierarchy of priests relating to ritual was common to
each city. The kalu-priests were in charge of temple chants;
baru-priests read the omens; and other priests were in charge of ritual
"ablutions". In every temple of every city, sacrifices were made to the
gods on a daily basis. "Libations" of water, beer, vegetables, meats
were often offered while incense was burned. The ceremonies were
conducted only by priests and the common man usually had very little
part in these ceremonies.
Spells and charms were taken very seriously because they helped
drive life. Through ritual and prayer, the Sumerians could win the
support and "control" the power of the gods and goddesses. The gods
often appeared in person to the people of the city. Statues of gods
were often carried through the city in a procession. An example of one
of these rituals from the book The Quest for Sumer by Leonard Cottrell
follows:
"...after the statue of the god Anu has left the chapel called
Aemenna and has reached the Exalted Gate, all the masmasu-priests shall
recite three times the incantation (entitled) Sarru ittasa...After the
blessing, the masmasu- priests shall again recite four times the
incantation Sarru ittasu as far as the Street of the Gods. The
urigallu-priest, the masmasu-priests, the eribbitu-priests, and the
brewers, who are harnessed to the cross-beam (supporting the moving
statue of Anu), shall bless Anu with the blessing entitled Anu rabu
same u ersetu likrabuka."
Some rituals were carried out to the extreme, such as the ritual of the
Washing the Mouth. The example of this ritual is again from the book
The Quest for Sumer:
"You shall draw the curtains shut. On the bull you shall perform
the rite of Washing the Mouth. You shall whisper through a reed tube
into the bull's left ear the incantation entitled "Alpu ilittu Zi
attama." You shall purify the bull, using a brazier and a torch. You
shall draw a ring of zisurra-flour around the bull. Standing at its
head, you shall sing Nitugki niginna to the accompaniment of a bronze
halahlattu....Then you shall cut out open that bull and start a fire
with cedar. You shall burn the bull's heart with cedar, cypress and
mashatu-flour before the kettledrum. You shall remove the tendon of the
left shoulder and shall bury the body of the bull wrapped in a single
reed. You shall throw some gunnu-oil on it and arrange it so that its
face points to the west..."
A sequence of religious festivals was held each month to celebrate
the completion of one of the phases of the moon and other natural
occurrences. The biggest annual celebration was the New Year's festival
(celebrated in the Spring) which celebrated the critical time of
harvest when everything depended on a turn of the tide. This time of
year was very tense for these Sumerian farmers and many rituals that
occurred during this festival conveyed that same feeling. This New Year
holiday also centered around the "Sacred Marriage" which was a
dramatization of the legend of the marriage of the god Dumuzi to the
goddess Inanna. The repetition of this ritual reassured the Sumerians
of their fate in the future. The reading of the creation myth also
occurred at this time. On the fifth day of the festival, a number of
other rituals were carried out. The temple was blessed at this time by
sprinkling it with water and holy oil. A sheep was then decapitated and
the bloody body was held up to the building to remove any impurity that
still remained. The sheep was then thrown into the river as the
scapegoat. After this was done, the king of the city then came to the
festival for the first time and entered the temple where he performed a
ritual which demonstrated his humbleness and servitude to the gods.
Later that day, the king then participated in the ritual sacrifice of a
bull. The ritual ended with the "decreeing of the fate" of the king for
the new year.
"Away to the east the red arc of the sun is just beginning to rise
over the rim of the plain, and if we strain our eyes we may see far off
the walls and towers of other cities, gilded by the level rays. There
is a sound of chanting...High above them the voice of the sangu intones
the final prayer, while incense drifts up into the cloudless sky. The
ceremony is over. The New Year has begun."
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thanks so much! :)
i am using this for a school project. it is soooo useful.
Useful for school project, thanks!
it did not help me i need to find a list of what sumarians offerd