ch
garments to the temple for use on six days of the year,--the 7th day of
Nisan (first month), 10th of Iyyar (second month), 3rd of Elul (sixth
month), 7th of Tishri (seventh month), 15th of Arakh-shamna (or
Marcheshwan, eighth month), and the 15th of Adar (twelfth month). These
garments are given to Shamash, to his consort Malkatu, and to
Bunene.[1574] Since from a passage in a Babylonian chronicle[1575] it
appears that it was customary for Shamash on his festival to leave his
temple, we may conclude that the garments were put on Shamash and his
associates, for the solemn procession on the six days in question.

The festivals in Nisan and Elul are distinctly of a solar character. The
choice of two other months immediately following Nisan and Elul cannot
be accidental. The interval of thirty-three days between the Nisan and
Iyyar festivals and thirty-four days between the Elul and Tishri
festivals may represent a sacred period.[1576] Tishri, moreover, as has
been pointed out, is a sacred month in a peculiar sense. Marcheshwan, it
may be well to bear in mind, is sacred to Marduk,--a solar deity,--while
the 15th of Adar, curiously enough, is an old solar festival that,
modified and connected with historical reminiscences, became popular
among the Jews of Persia and Babylonia during the Persian supremacy in
the Semitic Orient, and survives to this day under the name of the Purim
festival.[1577] At all events, the six days may be safely regarded as
connected in some way, direct or indirect, with solar worships, and it
is natural to find that in so prominent a center of sun-worship as
Sippar, _all_ the solar festivals were properly and solemnly observed.

It is disappointing that up to the present so little has been
ascertained of the details of the moon-cult--the great rival to Shamash
worship--in the old cities of Ur and Harran. In the Babylonian calendar,
the third month--Siwan--is sacred to Sin, but since, as we have found,
the festivals in honor of the gods do not always correspond to the
assignment of the months, we cannot be certain that in this month a
special festival in honor of Sin was observed. Lastly, besides the
regular and fixed festivals, the kings, and more especially the Assyrian
rulers, did not hesitate to institute special festivals in memory of
some event that contributed to their glory. Agumkakrimi[1578] instituted
a festival upon restoring the statues of Marduk and Sarpanitum to
Babylon, and Sargon d