Cutting hair is a sign of mourning among the Kurds and it is still a common culture to this very day. It is particularly done by women. For instance, when a woman loses her husband, she cuts her hair and hangs it over her husband’s tomb. This is a sign to show her depth of despair for losing her husband and she would not marry anyone else at all. It also means that she buries her beauty and female life along with her husband.

It was also common among the Kurds that when an eminent person died, his family members tie a yellow piece of cloth to his clothes and put it on the horseback. His wife and daughters cut their hair and throw them over their deceased clothes to show their mourning. A woman who is mourning is called “Por Kur”. This word is also used as a curse. When the deceased family goes to his funeral, his family members go toward the horse which carries the deceased clothes and they mourn for their lost one.

Women’s and girls’ haircutting is carried out in other ceremonies. For example, when someone dies, a hero gets killed in a battle, a family member, or the leader of the tribe passes away. All in all, haircutting is done for losing a beloved family member or an important figure among the Kurds.

 This culture is not as common nowadays but people replaced it with wearing black clothes for forty days after a person dies among them to show their sadness and mourning. However, in the recent history of this nation when ISIS genocide the Yazidis in Shangal most of the women cut their hair and hanged them over their men’s tombs.