Feast of the Cross (Assyrian)

Culture of origin: Assyrian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Assyrian

On 13 September the Church of the East celebrates the finding of the Cross by Queen Helena, mother of Constantine, in the excavations for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and counts it a major feast. The Western churches keep the Cross on 14 September; they mark the day it was shown again in Jerusalem after the Romans recaptured it from the Persians, who had carried it off to their capital, Seleucia-Ctesiphon, in 614. Assyrian communities hold a shara, a feast-day gathering with food, song and dance, for the day, and the Assyrians of Jilu keep the shara of their patron saint, Mar Zaya, on it.