Due to the Corona pandemic there will be no mass events for the Kurdish New Year Newroz this year. Instead of the central Newroz celebrations, every place, every house, every street, every quarter, every village and every mountain in Kurdistan will become its own festival place.

People have lit fires to mark Newroz in the Qamishlo city on Friday.

To welcome Newroz, people of Kurdistan traditionally light big fires. Since Kawa needed fire to forge the iron with which he put an end to centuries of oppression, this fire became an important symbol for Newroz. Kawa was a blacksmith who ended the tyranny of the evil ruler Dehak on March 21, 2632 years ago. According to legends from the time of the Median Empire, Dehak suffered from a disease whose only cure was the brains of boys. When Kawa's sons were also to be sacrificed, he decided to resist. The blacksmith slew the tyrant and lit a fire to signal to the people in the mountains that Dehak had been defeated. Since then, Newroz, the new day, is celebrated in Kurdistan as the day of a new beginning or rebirth. Every year on New Year's Day on March 21, Kawa’s fire is rekindled. It symbolizes the fight against tyranny and oppression by foreign invaders.