Fieldwork in Iraq by Poles Gajuo with Prof. Xavier Bouvier (HEM): Visits to the Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac Catholic and Orthodox Churches

Fieldwork in Iraq by Poles Gajuo with Prof. Xavier Bouvier (HEM): Visits to the Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac Catholic and Orthodox Churches

6-22 April 2023 - Ainkawa/Erbil, Mosul and Ninive Plains, Iraq: Researcher Poles Gajuo visited the Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac Catholic and Orthodox Churches with Prof. Xavier Bouvier (HEM) in the context of his Master thesis. The theme of his Master Thesis was a comparative study of the East night celebrations of these four traditions in an ethnomusicological perspective.

The following sites were visited in IRaq

• Ankawa/Erbil (Holy Thursday service at the Chaldean Catholic Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on 6 April 2023)
• Baghdida (Holy Easter night Syriac Catholic service at the Al’ Tahira Cathedral on 8 April 2023; Holy Easter night Syriac Orthodox service at the Church of Mar Giorgios on 16 April 2023); Church of Raja (7 April 2023); Syriac Orthodox monastery of Mor Kurtaya and church of Mor Behnam and Sarah (8 April 2023); Music school (9 April 2023); Monastery of the Redeemer (11 April 2023); Saint Paul Center (12 April 2023);
• Monastery of Mar Behnam and Sarah, Nimrud (9 April 2023);
• Mosul old town center (10 April 2023);
• Ankawa/Erbil old town center (13 April 2023);
• Bartalla: Vespers at Syriac Orthodox Church of Mar Giwargis (12 April 2023); Syriac Catholic funeral at the Church of Mar Giwargis (14 April 2023)

A field report of the visit to Iraq from 6 to 22 April 2023 provided a description of the above mentioned celebrations and churches, in context, and of the wider sociological context of the visited areas of Ankawa/Erbil, the Nineveh plains Christian villages, and Mosul.