The Middle East is a region between the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the line drawn by the border between Iran and Pakistan. The Middle East is part of West Asia with Asian Turkey, Transcaucasia and Egyptian Sinai.
The area concerned includes at least the Fertile Crescent (Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon), the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait) and the valley of the Nile (Egypt). We sometimes add the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan (legacy of the definition inherited from the British Empire), the Maghreb States (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Libya).
Holidays of the month
December 17, 2024 (1 event)
December 17, 2024
Today, the Mandaeans celebrate Ashoriya, the deaths of their first ancestors. This commemorates the Flood and the death of all infidels, cleansing the Earth of polytheism. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #December 17 #Mandeism #Ashoriya
December 19, 2024 (1 event)
December 19, 2024
Today, Yazidis celebrate Ezid. The Ezid Festival is preceded by Rojiyên Êzî (The Fasts of Ezid), which are the three days of fasting in honor of Êzî/Ezid. Yazidis associate the winter solstice with the appearance of Siltan Ezid, an important religious figure considered the earthly manifestation of God. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #Yézidi #Ezid
December 21, 2024 (2 events)
December 21, 2024
Today, Persians and Zoroastrians celebrate Shab-e Yalda. The most important moment of this holiday is the reading of the Divan-e-Hafez, the Divân of the famous poet Hâfez. Everyone makes a wish without revealing it and then reads the poem to guide them. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #December 21 #shabeyalda #yalda #Persia #zoroaster
December 21, 2024
On this day, the Mesopotamian peoples of Babylon celebrated Zagmuk. The beginning of the year marked the victory of the protective god Marduk over chaos after 12 days of struggle. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #December 21 #marduk #zagmuk
December 25, 2024 (2 events)
December 25, 2024
On this day, the Nakh people celebrated Malkh. The Nakh believed that the Sun would visit its mother, Aza, on the summer and winter solstices. The journey took him six months. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #December 25 #nakh #vainakh
December 25, 2024
On this day, the Persians celebrated the Birth of Mithras. This god of light, creator, justice and all-powerful has established himself in many religions throughout the ages along the Silk Road. It seems that the annual celebration of December 25, the winter solstice, is the most important celebration of the cult; it was believed that Mithras was born on this day, hence the birthday of the unconquered sun (natalis solis invicti) also to be compared with the birth of Jesus. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #December 25 #Iran #Mithra
December 26, 2024 (1 event)
December 26, 2024
and many religious communities commemorate the death of the prophet Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions still in operation, estimated to be over 5000 years old. She is the ancestor of Abrahamic religions, dualistic religions and many others. It was repeatedly used as a revolution of the people against the aristocracy. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #26December #zoroaster #zoroaster
Cultural areas of the Middle East
Religions in the Middle East are historically diverse: beyond the three great monotheistic religions and their respective confessions stemming from the Abrahamic tradition, many other religions have developed since Antiquity, some of which are still practiced in the 21st century.
Babism or the Babi faith (Persian: Arabic: بابی ها Bábí há) is a reforming and millenarian religious movement founded in Iran on May 23, 1844 (5 Jamádíyu'l-Avval 1260 AD), by a young merchant from the city of Shiraz, named Siyyid 'Alí Muḥammad Shírází (1819-1850) and nicknamed the Báb.
Bahaism also known as the Bahá'í religion (pronounced baˈhaːʔiː), Behaism or Bahá'i faith is a monotheistic religion whose goal is to unite humanity in its diversity (this perspective is already found in the poet Saint Kabir born in the 15th century in India). It was founded by the Persian Mirzâ Husayn 'Alî (1817-1892) in 1863. This name is derived from the nickname given to its founder: Bahá'u'lláh (in Arabic, "Glory of God" or "splendor of God" ). Bahá'ís are the disciples of Bahá'u'lláh.
Gnosticism is a religious movement bringing together various doctrines from the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East which are generally characterized by the belief that men are divine souls imprisoned in a material world created by an evil or imperfect god called the demiurge. The movement reached its peak during the 2nd century. The demiurge can be seen as an incarnation of evil, or as a good but imperfect god.
He exists alongside another supreme being, more distant and difficult to know, who embodies good. In order to free himself from the lower material world, man needs gnosis, that is, the esoteric spiritual knowledge available through direct experience or knowledge (gnosis) of the supreme being. Jesus of Nazareth is identified by certain Gnostic cults as an incarnation of the supreme being who incarnated to bring gnosis to men.
Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion of which Ahura Mazdâ (pehlevi: Ohrmazd) is the god, solely responsible for bringing order to the initial chaos, the creator of heaven and Earth. Zoroastrianism is a reform of Mazdaism, a reform prophesied by Zarathustra, whose name was transcribed Zoroaster by the Greeks (Ζωροάστρης, Zōroastrēs). This reform, founded during the 1st millennium BC. B.C. in present-day Iranian Kurdistan (Western Iran), became the official religion of Iranians under the Sassanid dynasty (224-651), until Islam arrived, although this religion was successful to blend into Iranian cultural heritage.
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