{"id":39664,"date":"2016-04-08T16:12:28","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T21:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=39664"},"modified":"2016-04-08T16:12:28","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T21:12:28","slug":"assyrians-around-the-world-ring-in-the-new-year-with-hope-for-a-new-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/assyrians-around-the-world-ring-in-the-new-year-with-hope-for-a-new-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Assyrians around the world ring in the new year with hope for a new spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Gebresilassie <\/strong><\/p>\n

Assyrians in Chicago, and around the world, celebrate Kha b-Nisan, or the Assyrian new year. <\/p>\n

Milad Shaer, owner of Milo\u2019s Pita<\/a>, joined thousands in a Chicago-held parade to celebrate 7,000 years of Assyrian heritage. Their ancestry traces back to the ancient Assyrian empire in the prehistoric Middle East and present day Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran and other surrounding countries.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[vimeo 162107576 w=474]<\/p>\n

Chicago Assyrians Milad Shaer, owner of Milo\u2019s Pita, and Reine Hanna from the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation celebrate the Assyrian New Year with hope for greater peace in the Middle East. (Hannah Gebresilassie\/MEDILL) <\/div>\n

Shaer resettled in the United States in 1997 after fleeing northern Iraq to escape oppression and avoid death. His father was a chef for Shelter Now, a non-profit which provides humanitarian aid to the Middle East. Shaer says his father\u2019s involvement opened up doors to start a new life in Chicago. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe came here because of the violence but this violence never stops,\u201d Shaer says. \u201cChurches getting blown up, people getting beheaded and the kidnapping. That wasn\u2019t as bad back then as it is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Able to avoid these deadly conditions, Shaer has also overcome language and cultural barriers in the United States. He is part of a community of nearly 100,000 Assyrian residents living in Chicago, according to the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The foundation works to bridge the gap between Assyrians in the homeland and the United States. Reine Hanna, Director of Community Relations, is passionate about providing support for resettlement to Assyrian immigrants in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo know that there are people a world away that are suffering in your name,\u201d Hanna says. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that I\u2019ve been able to make peace with just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanna and others at the center provide resources for refugees including the Ashurbanipal Library. It is home to ancient Assyrian texts and artifacts composed in English, Assyrain, Russian, Arabic and Farsi. The newly renovated library founded in 1984 is set to open May 1.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to maintain the historical items due to centuries of persecution and displacement, Hanna says. However, head librarian Ninos Yousif continues to search out new additions to what is now the largest Assyrian collection to the world, according to the foundation. <\/p>\n

Hanna grew emotional while explaining how ISIS showed up at her family\u2019s door in Khabur, Syria, threatening to kill them in February 2015. She received the news on her twenty-third birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that I could think of at the time was that oh my God. It could\u2019ve been me. And it would\u2019ve been me had my parents not moved here,\u201d Hanna says.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, her family\u2019s Muslim neighbors were able to negotiate with the terrorists so they could escape in one piece.<\/p>\n

Despite the continued suffering from malicious terrorist attacks, both Hanna and Shaer keep hope that the new year will provide a greater sense of peace for their people. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Kha b-Nisan symbolizes is a new spring and rebirth,\u201d Hanna says. \u201cSo hopefully with this new spring, we\u2019ll start to see a little bit of that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Photo at top: Ancient Assyrian artifacts are displayed in the Ashurbanipal Library at the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation. (Hannah Gebresilassie\/MEDILL) <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Gebresilassie Assyrians in Chicago, and around the world, celebrate Kha b-Nisan, or the Assyrian new year. Milad Shaer, owner of Milo\u2019s Pita, joined thousands in a Chicago-held parade to celebrate 7,000 years of Assyrian heritage. Their ancestry traces back to the ancient Assyrian empire in the prehistoric Middle East and present day Iraq, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":39665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,452,28,675],"tags":[2568,2567,2571,61,2570,1099,2569,2572,576,2417,577,2446,2240,2536],"class_list":["post-39664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-social-justice","tag-assyria","tag-assyrian","tag-assyrian-universal-alliance-foundation","tag-chicago","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-isis","tag-mediterranean","tag-refugee","tag-skokie","tag-syria","tag-syrian","tag-syrian-refugees","tag-terrorism"],"yoast_head":"\nAssyrians around the world ring in the new year with hope for a new spring - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/assyrians-around-the-world-ring-in-the-new-year-with-hope-for-a-new-spring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assyrians around the world ring in the new year with hope for a new spring - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Hannah Gebresilassie Assyrians in Chicago, and around the world, celebrate Kha b-Nisan, or the Assyrian new year. 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