Kurdish New Year

Iraqi Kurds celebrate Newroz, the traditional Kurdish New Year in a mountain procession in Akre part of Iraqi Kurdistan on March 20, 2019

This ancient Kurdish festival known as Newroz, meaning New Day, is an event which celebrates the start of a new year and the welcoming of the spring. It occurs on or around the time of the March equinox or first day of spring. Today it is also celebrated throughout the Middle East as a call to freedom and a symbol to the struggle of Kurds throughout history. The celebration of the event is growing in popularity every year.

Spectators start settling miles away to observe the celebrations from locations far enough from the flames. Roads became saturated of cars trying to make their way to the closest place near the mountain as otherwise there are a few miles to walk ahead. Some choose spontaneous places... like these families gathering in a cemetery.

There are special foods, fireworks, dancing, and singing. Many wear traditional Kurdish clothes. Women wear bright, colourful, heavily embroidered clothing. Bright-coloured vests and sashes are worn over their dresses, often with baggy trousers underneath. Men wear baggy, brown pants with a plain shirt having very full sleeves tied at the elbow. They use headscarves with Kurdish patterns or their flag colours as a turban. Traditionally, nomadic Kurdish men shaved their heads and wore long moustaches and often completed their costume with a dagger worn at the waist.

The spirit of the people arises at dusk, a torchlit procession snakes their way through the top of the mountain and back. On their return, participants throw their lit torches over a cliff creating a massive bonfire. The flames refer to the legend of a blacksmith named Kaveh who defeated an evil king and then set the hillsides ablaze in celebration, while also symbolises the passing of the dark season and the arrival of the season of light. This commemoration has also come to stand for Kurdish hopes for freedom and self-rule.

Today, an estimated 25 - 30 million Kurds live scattered in a territory that spans the borders of modern-day Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia but only in Iraq do they enjoy meaningful autonomy since secured constitutional recognition in 2005. Around 5.2 million people live in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the KRG. The government has its own parliament, military (the Peshmerga), borders and foreign policy. Kurdish forces have played an increasingly important role in the battle against ISIL.

The festival is celebrated by Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria and is also celebrated as the Persian New Year in Iran. The fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East and the largest stateless nation in the world.