Easter at Iyık Janyl
Kyamta, the Resurrection, is the high point of the Iradi church year. The night on Cathedral Hill, with its candles, the wooden nakus and then the bells, is one of the most moving things you can see in Irad.
Good Friday at the doors of the Church of St. Janyl, with the nakus.
The Syro-Iradi Catholic Church keeps the old East Syriac liturgy of Addai and Mari, with unleavened kümöch bread and juniper incense. Easter (Kyamta) falls on 28 March in 2027, and Iyık Janyl, the mother city of the church, is the place to spend it.
The weeks before
- The Great Fast (Uluu Savma) begins on 8 February 2027. At the cathedral it is opened by the nakus, a long wooden board beaten with mallets, which called the faithful to prayer before the church had bells.
- Leaven Thursday (Achytky Beyshembi), the Thursday before Easter, is kept by the clans who guard the church's holy leaven, the malka.
- Good Friday: the bells are silent, and only the nakus is heard.
Easter night
The vigil fills Cathedral Hill. Bring a candle, or buy one from the icon-and-candle shops below the hill. When the bells ring out at the Resurrection, remember that today's bells have only rung since 1996. The old bells were broken up in 1937, and until 1992 the cathedral had none. At Easter 1993 the nakus was beaten again for the first time in more than fifty years. The largest of today's five bells is named Janyl and weighs 1,180 kg.
Tips
- Women cover their heads in the cathedral. White scarves are lent at the north door.
- From Easter 2027 the north quarter of the cathedral dome is being retiled, so expect scaffolding on that side.
- Iyık Janyl's guesthouses fill for Easter week. Book ahead and bring cash.
- Many Iradis keep the fast until Easter, so be discreet about eating in the street.
- Can't be there? IradOne broadcasts the night live.