Newroz fires (Kurdish Newroz Eve)

Culture of origin: Kurdish · Ancient festival

Holiday sources: Kurdish

Kurds usually celebrate Newroz on 21 March, and the lighting of fires at the start of the evening of 20 March is its main symbol: on the eve bonfires are lit across the hillsides, for the passing of winter, the dark season. In the Kurdish legend the reign of the tyrant Zahhak kept spring from returning to Kurdistan and two young men were sacrificed to him every day, until Kawa (Kaveh), a blacksmith who had lost six sons to him, led an uprising, killed him with a hammer and set fire to the hillsides to celebrate the victory and summon his supporters; in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh it is Fereydun who defeats Zahhak. "The lighting of the fires became a symbol of freedom," the Kurdish journalist Stran Abdullah told the Christian Science Monitor. In Turkey the Kurdish spelling "Newroz" has been officially forbidden, and more than 90 Kurds were killed by the Turkish government during the 1992 celebrations. In Iran, on 23 March 2025 the Islamic Republic's security forces arrested three men of Avihang village near Sanandaj, Shirvan Heydari, Edris Heydari and Sirvan Hatami, in connection with the Newroz celebrations, according to Hengaw; no charges were made known.