Puruli () was a Hattian spring festival, held at

Nerik Nerik ( Hittite: ''Nerik(ka)''"Nerik(ka)." ''Reallexikon der Assyriologie.'') was a Bronze Age settlement to the north of the Hittite capitals Hattusa and Sapinuwa, probably in the Pontic region. Since 2005–2009, the site of Nerik has been id ...

, dedicated to the earth goddess Hannahanna, who is

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

to a new king. The central ritual of the Puruli festival is dedicated to the destruction of the dragon

Illuyanka In Hittite mythology, Illuyanka was a serpentine dragon slain by Tarḫunz (), the Hittite incarnation of the Hurrian god of sky and storm. It is known from Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Çorum-Boğazköy, the former Hittite capital Hattusa ...

by the storm god

Teshub Teshub (also written Teshup, Teššup, or Tešup; cuneiform ; hieroglyphic Luwian , read as ''Tarhunzas'';Annick Payne (2014), ''Hieroglyphic Luwian: An Introduction with Original Texts'', 3rd revised edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p.& ...

. The corresponding Assyrian festival is the

Akitu Akitu or Akitum is a spring festival held on the first day of Nisan in ancient Mesopotamia, to celebrate the sowing of barley. The Assyrian and Babylonian Akitu festival has played a pivotal role in the development of theories of religion, myth ...

of the Enuma Elish. Also compared are the Canaanite ''Poem of Baal'' and

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

93 and 29. Biblical Hannah has been suggested as a Hebrew version of Hannahanna.

Literature

*J. G. Macqueen, ''Hattian Mythology and Hittite Monarchy'', Anatolian Studies (1959). * Theodor H. Gaster, ''Psalm 29'', The Jewish Quarterly Review, University of Pennsylvania (1946) Spring festivals Hattian mythology {{MEast-myth-stub