AKRE, Kurdistan Region of Iraq — For many, the vernal equinox is just a date. In Iran it marks Nowruz, the Persian new year, and in Kurdish areas across the Middle East the holiday is a core expression of Kurdish identity.
More than 30 million Kurds live in a contiguous region spanning parts of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, split by borders and differing histories. The ancient town of Akre, tucked against jagged mountains in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, has long been a center for Nowruz gatherings.
At dusk in Akre, people light flaming torches and carry them up the mountainside to symbolize light triumphing over darkness. Women wear long, glittering Kurdish dresses reminiscent of medieval paintings; many men don traditional baggy trousers and woven cummerbunds. This year, despite storm clouds and heavy rain, hundreds marched with burning burlap torches, leaving smoldering flames alongside a stretched Kurdish flag by the trail.
The torch-bearing recalls a Kurdish myth of a brave blacksmith who rallied villagers to overthrow a tyrant, announcing freedom with mountaintop fires. Organizers also arranged flames to form the numbers two and one, alluding to the saying “two plus two equals one” — an assertion that Kurdish populations across four states together constitute one Kurdistan.
Normally, Akre’s celebrations are boisterous, with large fires lit on summits. This year’s observance was more restrained because of regional conflict and poor weather. The wider war in the Middle East, and Iranian drones and missiles that have flown over the Kurdish region targeting U.S. sites, kept some people away. Still, many Kurds from Syria, Iran and Turkey braved the risks — and the downpour — to join the event.
Relations between the Iraqi Kurdistan authorities and leaders of Syria’s Kurdish-led region have eased in recent months. In January, Iraqi Kurdish officials offered political backing and humanitarian aid after Syrian government forces advanced into Kurdish-held areas, a thaw that has reflected in more cross-border participation at cultural events.
In Akre’s central plaza, under strung lights and gathering rain, families posed for photos in vivid traditional attire, groups danced and musicians beat drums. Young men and women climbed hills to find vantage points for the procession; some sheltered in tents on hilltops until the ceremonies began. Children and elders stood together as the torches illuminated the night, a ritual grounded in myth but charged with contemporary meaning: solidarity, cultural survival and the hope that light — literal and symbolic — will prevail over darkness.
