Newroz: New Day, New Year, New Fire
On 21 March, as the sun crosses the vernal equinox, bonfires blaze on mountainsides from Diyarbakır to Sulaymaniyah to Mahabad to Afrin – simultaneously, across four countries and forty million people. Newroz is the most important event in the Kurdish calendar: new year, spring festival, and national symbol compressed into a single night of fire, dance, and collective identity that has been celebrated for centuries and banned by three modern states.
The Myth of Kawa the Blacksmith
The origin story of Newroz is the story of the blacksmith Kawa (Kaveh Ahangar in Persian) and the tyrant Zahhak (Zohhak/Dehak) – a myth so deeply embedded in Kurdish cultural memory that it functions as both historical narrative and living political metaphor. Zahhak was a king with two serpents growing from his shoulders, each requiring the daily feeding of a young man's brain. Kawa's sons were among those sacrificed.
Kawa gathered the oppressed, forged his blacksmith's tools into weapons, and on the first day of spring stormed Zahhak's fortress and killed him. He then lit bonfires on the mountain summits to signal the liberation – and those fires have been relit on 21 March every year since. In Kurdish political culture, the Zahhak figure has been applied to every occupying power; every Newroz bonfire is simultaneously ancient ritual and contemporary resistance.
The Iranian government banned Newroz celebrations for Kurds in the Islamic Republic's early years. Turkey banned them until 2005. Both bans were defied every year – sometimes at the cost of lives. The bonfire is not just festive; it is proof that the people continue.
Salar Arkan — CC BY-SA 4.0
How Newroz is Celebrated
- Bonfires lit on hilltops and mountains the night before (Newroz Eve) – young men leap over the flames for luck and health
- Dawn gatherings in parks, mountains, and fields – families picnic from sunrise, often spending the entire day outdoors
- Traditional Kurdish dress worn publicly – red, green, and yellow (the Kurdish national colours) dominate the crowds
- Circle dancing (govend/halparke) to live music – dengbêj singers perform, saz and def players play in every gathering
- Special foods: colourful eggs (painted like Easter eggs), sour greens (termîzk), and whatever the season first produces
- In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Newroz is a public holiday spanning several days – the cities empty into the mountains
- In diaspora communities across Europe, Newroz is celebrated in city parks and community halls on the nearest weekend
Newroz as Political Act
In Turkey, Newroz celebrations were banned until 1991 (celebrations permitted but not the Kurdish name) and only fully legalised under the name "Nevruz" in 2005 – but even after legalisation, large urban gatherings have repeatedly been dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. Every large Newroz gathering in Diyarbakır/Amed is simultaneously a spring festival and a political demonstration; the two are inseparable in Kurdish Bakur consciousness.
In Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat), Newroz is officially celebrated as the Persian New Year (Nowruz) – Iran's national holiday – but the specifically Kurdish political dimension of the celebrations is suppressed. Kurdish political activists use Newroz gatherings to demonstrate for Kurdish rights; security forces respond accordingly. The bonfire on the mountain is innocent and charged simultaneously.
UNESCO inscribed "Nowruz" (the shared Iranian-Kurdish-Central Asian spring festival) on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016 – but the specifically Kurdish mythology, the Kawa story, the political dimension of the bonfires, represents a layer of meaning that the international designation does not fully capture. For Kurds, Newroz is not merely "the Iranian new year" shared with Persians – it is the founding myth of Kurdish cultural identity.
The Newroz Day – A Typical Celebration
Newroz Eve – Şeva Newrozê
The night before 21 March, bonfires are lit on every hilltop and mountain in sight. Young men in traditional clothing leap the flames – the higher the leap, the greater the health and luck for the coming year. The fires must not be extinguished before midnight; families gather to watch from below. In cities, fires are lit in parks, on rooftops, and in every open space.
Dawn – Siberê Newrozê
Families wake before sunrise and travel to mountains, parks, or the countryside. The first light of the new year should be witnessed in the open air – ideally on a hilltop. Spring greens (especially termîzk, a wild sour plant) are eaten at dawn; painted eggs are exchanged between families and friends as gifts. The smell of woodsmoke from the dying bonfires is the smell of Newroz morning.
The Gathering – Kom Bûn
As the day progresses, the gatherings grow. Families spread rugs and blankets; fire up the mangal (grill); unpack food that has been prepared for days. Govend – collective line dancing – begins with a few and draws hundreds. Musicians play; dengbêj singers perform; in larger gatherings, professional performers take the stage. The national colours of red, green, and yellow are everywhere in clothing and decoration.
The Dance – Govend û Halparke
The govend circle dance is the heart of Newroz. Participants link little fingers in a long line – sometimes hundreds of people – and move together in a rhythmic step that varies by region. The head of the line leads with a handkerchief; the end anchor holds firm. The dance continues for hours; watching the line snake across a mountain meadow to the sound of saz and def is one of the most beautiful sights in Kurdish cultural life.
The Feast – Xwarin û Vexwarin
Kurdish Newroz food is seasonal and abundant: roast lamb, dolma (stuffed grape leaves and vegetables), rice dishes, freshly baked bread, spring herbs, and the inevitable çay that flows from the first light until the last bonfire dies. In the Kurdistan Region, the celebration continues for several official holidays; in diaspora communities, the Newroz meal is the most important shared meal of the year.
Eid: Kurdish Style
The Kurdish celebration of Eid carries the shared Islamic traditions of the holiday season fused with distinctive Kurdish practices – specific foods, specific greetings in Kurdish, specific patterns of visiting and hospitality that mark them as Kurdish rather than simply Muslim celebrations. The two Eids punctuate the Islamic calendar as the second and third most important festive occasions after Newroz.
Cejna Remezanê – Eid al-Fitr
"The Festival of Breaking Fast" – the conclusion of the month of Ramadan is celebrated in Kurdish communities with three days of festivity. Children receive new clothes and money; the elder generation is visited with gifts of sweets and pastries; the dead are remembered with prayers at gravesites on the first morning. Kurdish-specific sweets – klêcha (date-filled pastries), şekir loqme (honey fritters), and halwa – are prepared weeks in advance and distributed to neighbours and the poor.
The greeting "Cejna Remezanê Pîroz be!" (Blessed Eid of Ramadan to you!) is exchanged between acquaintances and strangers alike. In the Kurdistan Region, Eid is a public holiday; in diaspora communities, special Eid prayers are held in mosques and community halls.
Cejna Qurbanê – Eid al-Adha
"The Festival of Sacrifice" – the greater Eid, commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. Kurdish families who can afford to purchase a sheep or lamb (qurban) for ritual slaughter; the meat is divided in thirds between the family, relatives, and the poor. In rural areas, the slaughter is a community event; in cities, collective slaughter at designated sites. The Eid coincides with the Hajj pilgrimage season, and families who have a member performing Hajj celebrate with particular intensity.
Klêcha – Festival Pastry
کلێچەThe signature Kurdish Eid pastry – a date or walnut filled shortbread moulded in carved wooden forms. Families begin making klêcha in the final days of Ramadan; the smell of baking fills every home. Batches of 200–300 pastries are common; they are distributed to neighbours, given to visitors, and sent to family in other cities or abroad.
Eid al-Fitr · PastryZiyaret – Festival Visiting
زیارەتThe Eid visiting tradition – a structured circuit of calls beginning with the eldest family members, then relatives, then neighbours, then friends. Each visit involves sweets, tea, and conversation; refusing to admit visitors on Eid is considered deeply inhospitable. In diaspora communities, the visiting circuit now extends across cities by car, or continues via WhatsApp video when family is spread across continents.
Both Eids · HospitalityQurban – The Sacrifice
قوربانThe ritual animal sacrifice of Eid al-Adha – in Kurdish tradition, the meat is divided into three equal parts: one for the family, one for relatives, and one mandatory portion for the poor. The obligation to give to those who cannot afford their own sacrifice is taken seriously. In the Kurdistan Region, collective slaughter facilities operate during Eid; diaspora communities in Europe use certified halal facilities.
Eid al-Adha · Sacrifice · GivingThe Yazidi Year: Ancient Light
The Yazidi religious calendar is one of the oldest continuously observed liturgical calendars in the world – a cycle of sacred days, fasts, pilgrimages, and festivals that pre-dates Islam and Christianity and carries traces of the most ancient Iranian religious traditions. After the ISIS genocide of 2014 attempted to eliminate the Yazidi people entirely, the continuation of these celebrations is itself an act of survival and defiance.
Çarşema Sor – Red Wednesday
The holiest day in the Yazidi calendar – the Wednesday before Yazidi New Year (mid-April) when the Peacock Angel Tawusi Melek descended to earth and blessed creation. On this day, Yazidis paint eggs red (red being the colour of the sun and creation), light candles and oil lamps, wear new clothes, and celebrate the renewal of the world. No Yazidi may work on Çarşema Sor; the day is given entirely to celebration, prayer, and communal gathering.
The red eggs – painted with geometric patterns and dyed with pomegranate or beet – are given as gifts and rolled down hillsides as a form of divination. Children receive sweets and money; families gather at the homes of the eldest members. The oil lamps lit at sunset represent the light brought by Tawusi Melek; they must burn through the night.
Cemaya Cemaiyê – The Great Assembly
The largest annual Yazidi pilgrimage – held in October at Lalish, the holy valley where Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir is buried. All Yazidis who can travel are expected to make the pilgrimage at least once; during the festival week, tens of thousands gather at the temple complex for prayers, ritual bathing in the sacred spring, animal sacrifice, communal meals, and circle dancing. The festival continues for seven days. After the 2014 genocide scattered the Yazidi population across refugee camps and asylum countries, the Cemaya Cemaiyê became an especially charged occasion – the reassembly of a people who had been targeted for annihilation.
Çarşema Sor
چارشهمه سور — Red WednesdayThe holiest day of the Yazidi year – red eggs, oil lamps, new clothes, and the celebration of Tawusi Melek's descent to bless the earth. No work permitted. Communal gatherings at Lalish and in every Yazidi village and diaspora community worldwide.
Yazidi New Year EveCemaya Cemaiyê
جهمایه جهمایه — The Great AssemblyThe annual pilgrimage to Lalish – the holiest event in the Yazidi year. Tens of thousands gather for seven days of prayer, ritual bathing, animal sacrifice, communal feasting, and circle dancing. After the 2014 genocide, attendance has become an act of communal survival as much as spiritual devotion.
Lalish Pilgrimage · OctoberÊzî (Winter Fast & Festival)
ئێزیThe three-day Yazidi winter fast in December, followed by a celebration marking the darkest point of the year and the return of lengthening days. Ritual foods, communal prayers, and the lighting of fires mark the transition. The fast is broken with specific traditional foods that vary by family and clan tradition – one of the most ancient seasonal observances in the Kurdish religious calendar.
Winter Solstice · FastCem, Fire & Mountain Spring
The Alevi Kurdish tradition of the Dêrsim region and broader Bakur maintains a distinctive religious calendar that draws on pre-Islamic Iranian traditions, Anatolian folk belief, and a heterodox Islamic mysticism that the Ottoman and Turkish states never fully controlled. Alevi festivals are simultaneously religious observances, community reunions, and – in the modern period – acts of cultural resistance by a people whose traditions were suppressed for over a century.
Muharrem Orucu
موحهرهم ئوروجوThe Alevi commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn at Karbala (680 CE) – a period of mourning, fasting, and community gathering culminating in the "Aşure" (Noah's pudding) shared meal. Kurdish Alevi communities gather in cem houses for ritual prayers led by the dede (religious leader); the mournful saz music of the Muharrem is unlike any other Kurdish musical tradition.
Alevi · Mourning · SolidarityXizir (Hızır) Haftası
خزر — XizirThe week of Xizir (Hızır) – the immortal holy figure who wanders the earth bringing good fortune to the worthy – is marked by a three-day fast followed by communal feasting and the distribution of food to the poor. Fires are lit on the eve of Xizir's feast day; wishes are made at springs and sacred trees. One of the most beloved folk observances in the Kurdish Alevi calendar, predating Islamic influence.
Alevi · Folk · Fire RitualCem Törenî – Cem Gathering
جهم تهرهنیThe central ritual gathering of Alevi religious life – the cem is simultaneously a religious service, a community court, and a celebration, held in the cem house (cemevi) under the leadership of the dede. Participants sit in a circle; the dede leads prayers and readings from the Alevi tradition; saz players perform semah (sacred dance). Disputes are resolved; the community is renewed. A tradition with roots in the most ancient forms of Kurdish communal life.
Alevi Ritual · CommunityThe Turn of the Agricultural Year
Before the Islamic calendar overlaid the Kurdish year with its lunar rhythm, and before Newroz was claimed as national symbol, the Kurdish calendar was an agricultural calendar – structured by the cycle of planting, growth, harvest, and the hard winters of the mountain world. Many of these seasonal observances survive in folk custom even where the formal festivals have been superseded.
Sêlê Berfê – First Snow
The first significant snowfall of winter is greeted in many Kurdish mountain communities as a quasi-festive occasion – children play in the snow with an intensity that speaks to the rarity of any event in long mountain winters; adults read the snow's depth and quality as an oracle of the spring's water supply and the summer's harvest. Traditional snow foods – a warm bulgur porridge, or the sweet of mixed dried fruit – are prepared.
The snow itself carries spiritual weight: in pre-Islamic Kurdish cosmology, as preserved in Yazidi and Alevi traditions, the great mountain springs – and therefore all water – are the gift of the divine world. Snow is the stored gift of heaven descending to earth; its melt feeds the rivers that feed the fields.
Havîna Nû – First of Summer
The transition to summer pasture – in the nomadic and semi-nomadic Kurdish pastoral tradition, late spring meant the migration of flocks and families from winter valleys to high summer pastures (zozans). The day of departure was festive: animals were decorated with coloured ribbons and bells; young men raced on horseback; families packed their tents and possessions. The zozan tradition is now mostly historical but its memory is preserved in dengbêj songs and family stories.
In settled communities, the first warm days of early summer meant the opening of the outdoor life: rooftop sleeping (in Kurdistan's dry summers, families sleep on flat rooftops from May through September), outdoor cooking, and the collective social life that the winter's cold had interrupted.
Dirûna Genim – Wheat Harvest
The wheat harvest in late June–July was the most important collective event of the agricultural year – before mechanisation, it required the labour of an entire community working together across every family's fields in turn. The harvest was accompanied by specific songs; the last sheaf was decorated and brought home ceremonially; the first loaf of the new harvest bread was blessed and shared. Many villages held a communal feast at harvest's end – the most important collective meal of the agricultural calendar.
The harvest festival tradition has been largely supplanted by modern agriculture, but its memory is preserved in regional folk song traditions, particularly in the Soranî and Kurmanji agricultural communities of Iraqi and Turkish Kurdistan where subsistence farming continued into the mid-20th century.
New Traditions, Living Culture
The contemporary Kurdish festive calendar has been enriched by new cultural institutions – film festivals, music festivals, literary fairs, and diaspora community events – that carry the spirit of collective celebration into new forms. These modern festivals are not replacements for ancient traditions but additions to a living culture that has always absorbed new forms without abandoning old ones.
Sulaymaniyah International Film Festival
فێستیڤاڵی فیلمی سلێمانیEstablished in 1999, the premier cultural event of the Kurdistan Region, bringing international and Kurdish cinema to Sulaymaniyah audiences each spring. The festival has created the institutional infrastructure for a Kurdish film industry and placed Sulaymaniyah on the international cultural calendar.
Cinema · International · AnnualKurdish Music Festivals
فێستیڤاڵی موسیقای کوردیMusic festivals in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and major diaspora cities (Berlin, Stockholm, London) have created new venues for Kurdish musical performance spanning classical dengbêj, traditional folk, and contemporary Kurdish pop. The festivals serve simultaneously as concerts and community gatherings – in diaspora contexts, they are often the largest annual gathering of the local Kurdish community.
Music · Diaspora · CommunityKurdish Book Fairs
نوسینگەی کتێبی کوردیAnnual book fairs in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah have become cultural festivals in their own right – celebrating a literary culture that was suppressed across most of its homeland for much of the 20th century. The Erbil International Book Fair attracts hundreds of publishers and thousands of visitors; the Sulaymaniyah fair is more intimate and focused on Kurdish-language literature specifically.
Literature · Publishing · Annual"Newroz is the one moment when every Kurd – in Diyarbakır or Stockholm, in Sulaymaniyah or Berlin – does the same thing at the same time. Lights a fire. And feels, for a moment, that the people are one."— Kurdish cultural writer