At their core, festivals have carried an anti-monstrous connotation throughout history for future generations; they also create opportunities for new creations and hope in the minds and encourage people to act and decorate the glorious realities of humanity and develop the fantasy of a new, just, peaceful, and glorious world that is everyone's dream.
One of the most important and meaningful events of Kurdish culture is Newroz and the ceremonies associated with this ancient holiday. Newroz has a powerful rich basis full of social, mythological, and historical mysteries that are mixed with brilliant symbols not only among our nation but also among neighboring nations.
However, the most common symbol in the neighbors' Newroz is the opportunity to rejoice, togetherness, and respect for nature and their rituals. For instance, among the people of Azerbaijan, lighting up the lantern, giving and receiving Newroz gifts, and setting the Newroz table are the habits during Newroz. The people of Tajikistan hang red pieces on their doors, make special dishes and sweets, and visit each other; they open doors and windows to welcome Newroz and hold red flowers. In Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, Newroz is also celebrated with its own ceremonies, but the occasion in those countries is limited to food, joy, competition, and so on.
But the holidays, especially Newroz, carry a different kind of thought and self-organizing for the Kurdish people. Newroz as a national holiday is the strongest occasion that has survived throughout history in the face of various religious and cultural attacks imposed on Kurdistan and remained forever. During Kurdish historical life, people have set the times of the year according to the different characteristics of those times and have made them an opportunity for happiness, spending time together, adapting to nature, and renewing their way of life; for example, festivals such as the beginning of "Shawi Chla" on the last night of autumn, "Belndana" in January, Pomegranate Festival at the end of the pomegranate harvest season, and the Thirteenth of Spring as an occasion to celebrate spring with expressing happiness with Halarke (Kurdish dance) (that Khani talks about it in Mam and Zin), and...; in addition to the mentioned characteristics, these festivals are an opportunity to practice Kurdish ethics and customs and besides the celebrities for the nature, it has given Kurdish lives and minds a new discipline. However, in addition to the characteristics of Newroz such as the beginning of spring, the end of winter, and the beginning of designing nature, the most important characteristic is that it reminds the Kurdish people of their social and historical duty. Newroz is a holiday of resistance and victory and besides its natural meaning, it also has a national meaning and pride like the revolution of Kawa Asingar (Kaveh the blacksmith) against the dictator is a symbol of victory. A look at the texts of Kurdish poetry and songs shows that poets as pioneers of the development of Kurdish society have emphasized and developed this characteristic. For instance, the poet Goran says:
The nation of Kawa cutting off the chains
Newroz gave it to the winter clouds
Or in Hedi's poem, the characteristics of Newroz are described as follows:
The old celebration and Kurdish New Year are back
It came back to light the fire of the people's struggle
The celebration of the hero Kawa is back more beautiful than ever
The symbol of Media, the great ancestor of the Kurds
Therefore, Newroz is an opportunity for reorganization, a reorganization that has both an individual and a social dimension. As an individual, Newroz is an opportunity to deal with oneself in a new way, to show how much one owes one's personal life and how much one should think about making up for the shortcomings of one's personal life and giving oneself the opportunity to grow. This is an aspect of this reorganization. Another side of it is to remind ourselves of the historical duties; when thinking about the national meaning of Newroz, the Kurdish people remember “change, social development, and the importance of national rights”. In the text of the story of Kawa Asingar's resistance, the dictator Zahak feeds the brains of the youth, who are the spring of society and the supreme strength, on his shoulders' snakes. Because the youth force is present in society with the utmost ability and renewal, both mentally and physically, and does not know fear. The mental nature of the young man, like the nature of spring, is a mixture of passion for growth, beauty, revolution, change, and the passion for maturity. This is all that the evil regime fears and tries to instill danger in the hearts of young people by killing and thus controlling them.
But the opportunity of Newroz denies all the evil policies that have been a rope on people's necks throughout history; It denies the growth of fear and real defeat, it denies the death of human rights, and it gives hope that human has power that destroys the power of darkness and breaks monsters. The opportunity of Newroz is a human's opportunity for a perfect existence, a multidimensional existence both as an individual and as a whole. It is an opportunity to remind you that the Spring Revolution can only be a successful revolution and drown winter, and the purpose of the spring revolution is to use all the elements of nature such as the earth, trees, plants, streams, rain, clouds, etc. to appear with new power and bring spring. The individuals of the nation must each fulfill their national duty and reorganize themselves in a new form so that they will have the opportunity to live a glorious life.
Newroz is an opportunity for human dignity, justice, unity, and victory.
