Newroz

Newroz or Nawroz (Kurdish: نه‌ورۆز/Newroz/Nawroz‎, also: GulusKurdish: گوڵوس‎) refers to the celebration of the traditional Iranic peoples new year holiday of Nowruz in Kurdish society. Before the Islamization of the Iranic peoples in Asia, the Zoroastrian religion was believed in by the ancestors of the modern Kurds. In Zoroastrian doctrine, fire is a symbol of sight, goodness and purification. Angra Mainyu, the demonic anti-thesis of Zoroastrianism, was defied by Zoroastrians through creating a big fire every year, to symbolize their defiance and hatred for evil and the arch-demon. Nevroz is mainly, in the modern age, affiliated with Kurds, who are in turn make the majority of the Alevi population, which is an Islamized version of the Zoroastrian religion, due to 1400 years of persecution by Arab Muslim rule. Also, in Kurdish legend, the holiday celebrates the deliverance of the Kurds from a tyrant (remember the relevance of Angra Mainyu), and it is seen as another way of demonstrating support for the Kurdish cause, essentially what's left of their Aryan/ Iranic roots. . The celebration coincides with the Northward equinox which falls mainly on 21 March and the festival is held usually between 18 and 24 March. The festival currently has an important place in terms of Kurdish identity for the majority of Kurds, mostly in Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Though celebrations vary, people generally gather together to welcome the coming of spring; people wear coloured clothes and dance together.

The arrival of spring has been celebrated in Asia Minor since neolithic times. The root of this story goes back to ancient Iranian legends, retold in General History by Kurdish scientist Dinawari,The Meadows of Gold by Muslim historian Masudi, the Shahnameh, a poetic opus written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi around 1000 AD, and the Sharafnameh by the medieval Kurdish historian Sherefxan Bidlisi.

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Wikipedia