Abstract
The text Emar VI 373 prescribes the procedures for the zukru festival, which was celebrated in every “seventh” year, and the preparatory rituals held in the preceding year. This study deals with them in terms of their schedule (§ II), procedures (§ III) and the gods involved (§ IV). In § II, the present writer argues that the dates of the preparatory rituals were established in consideration of the gaps between ‘lunar years’ and solar years, and he argues further that it is not certain that the festival followed a seven-year cycle; it is also possible and, in my opinion more probable, that it was a six-year cycle. In § III, on the basis of comparison between Parts I and II of the text, the procedures of the procession rites held on the days of the preparatory rituals and on the first and last days of the festival are reconstructed. We find that those procedures are similar to each other, though not identical. In § IV, the major divine participants in the procession rites, Dagan (bēl bukari), the festival god, and dNIN.URTA, the city god, are discussed. An analysis of when the face of Dagan (as well as of dNIN.URTA) is covered or uncovered during each of the rites and of the days on which dNIN.URTA returns to the city riding on the wagon together with Dagan shows that their different combination patterns play a significant role in building up towards a climax on the last day of the festival.
