The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) issued a message on the occasion of the Yazidi festival, Çarşema Sor.

In its message, the Autonomous Administration stated that Yazidis are one of the most ancient communities of Mesopotamia and that they have played a major role in the development of civilisation with their cultural heritage and human values.

The message noted that many fermans (term the Yazidis use to refer to the massacres and extermination operations in their history) were perpetrated, and massacres were carried out against Yazidis, but the Yazidis still preserved their values.

The Autonomous Administration said, "We hope that this Çarşema Sor will be instrumental in the development of the Syrian national identity and the healing of the wounds of the Syrian people," and called on the international community and relevant legal organisations to protect the Yazidi community and its cultural heritage.

The Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) also released a statement, saying, "On the occasion of Çarşema Sor, we offer our greetings and respect to the leader Abdullah Öcalan, who helped the Yazidis to escape from the massacres and led to the revival of this belief and culture."

"We congratulate the families of the martyrs, especially our Yazidi Kurds, all the fighters who fought to liberate the Yazidi people from the clutches of the ISIS terrorist organisation gangs and all the Kurdish people on the Feast of Çarşema Sor," the message said.

The message continued: "As the Democratic Society Movement, we congratulate the ancient holiday of all peoples, beliefs and cultures in the region, especially the Kurdish Yazidis, and hope that this holiday will be instrumental in freedom.”

TEV-DEM concluded: “We call on all Yazidi refugees in the camps in Southern Kurdistan to return to Shengal and strengthen their ties of unity and solidarity with Shengal’s resistance in order to frustrate the plans and agreements that put the Yazidi community in a new genocide trap."

Çarşema Sor

"Çarşema Sor" in Kurdish means "Red Wednesday". "Çarşem" consists of the Kurdish words "çar" for “four” and "şem" for “day”, meaning the "fourth day of the week", which is Wednesday. "Sor" means red. The day is also called "Sersal" (Kurdish "ser": up, head and/or top; and "sal": year), meaning "New Year".

New Year Time

The Yazidi New Year is celebrated on the first Wednesday in April, which, according to the Yazidi calendar, is always the first day of April and the New Year. Since the Yazidi calendar follows the Gregorian calendar by 13 days, the New Year is celebrated on the first Wednesday in April, which falls on or after April 14th in the Gregorian calendar. In Kurdish, the month of April is called "Nîsan". The first day of the month "Nîsan" is the "Çarşema Sor".

Mythology

According to Yazidi mythology, the "red Wednesday" is the day on which the creation of the earth was completed: The sun's rays reached the earth for the first time, turning the firmament red. The name "Red Wednesday" comes from this. Furthermore, it was the day on which the head of the Yazidi archangels, Tawisî Melek (God's angel), first came to earth. Tawisî Melek is the center of the seven archangels, so he represents Wednesday, the middle of the week or the center of the seven archangels. Wednesday is the rest day of the Yazidis, similar to Sunday for Christians.