NEWROZ

Newroz (new sun, day, or year) is celebrated as the beginning of the Kurdish New Year on 21 March, when spring begins. Other Iranic peoples along the ancient Silk Road also celebrate the occasion. It is the most important Kurdish national holiday of the year and, because of its association with freedom, has also become the most important Kurdishnationalistholiday. During the early years of its long-running rebellion (1978-present), theKurdistan Workers Party(PKK) often began its spring offenses and other violent attacks against the Turkish state on Newroz.In a clumsy effort to preempt this Kurdish national holiday, the government ofTurkeysuddenly announced in 1995 that the date—which it termedNevroz—wasin fact a Turkish holiday commemorating the day the Turks first left their ancestral Asian homeland, Ergenekon.

Newroz celebrations can last for a week or more. People visit each other's houses for festive meals, and gifts are sometimes given. It is traditional to end quarrels, forgive debts, and overlook enmity and insults. Bonfires are also frequently lit, and exuberant Kurds jump over them. These bonfires may possibly be associated with the Kurds'Zoroastrianpast. Newroz is also associated with the legend of the blacksmith Kawa, who defeated the ruthless ruler Zohhak (or Dahak), who had been feeding the brains of young men to two giant serpents' heads growing from his shoulders. In other versions, however, Zohhak is a Kurdish hero.

There is considerable confusion among Kurds concerning their calendar because, in addition to their own Kurdish one, they have occasion to use the Muslim, Gregorian, and Iranian calendars. The Kurdish calendar is a solar one that consists of 365 days and a leap year every four years. It begins on Newroz, which is the day that spring begins. It is also identical to the Iranian calendar except for the names of the months and the original beginning year. The Iranian calendar commences with the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE, and the Kurdish calendar starts in 380 CE, which was the fall of the Kurdish Kavusakan dynasty (House of Kayus), plus an unexplained seven extra years. Thus the year 2009 CE would be 1622 in the Kurdish calendar.