ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nestled in the mountains of Duhok province’s Shekhan district, Lalish Temple, the holiest site in the Yazidi faith, hosted Chwarshama Sur (Red Wednesday) on Tuesday evening. The ancient celebration, considered the oldest and most sacred Yazidi tradition, marks the beginning of creation and the renewal of life.
The Lalish site, believed to date back approximately 4,000 years, reflects deep-rooted heritage, with ancient symbols etched into its stone structures, each representing narratives and rituals tied to the historical and religious foundations of the Yazidi faith.
Chwarshama Sur (Red Wednesday), one of the most ancient and sacred celebrations in the Yazidi faith, marking the new year, was hosted on Tuesday evening at the holy Lalish Temple in Shekhan district.
“Since ancient times, the peoples of the Middle East have welcomed this festival and celebrated it in various ways, with each region calling it by a different name. Yezidis call it the New Year Festival, Babylonians call it the Akitu Festival, and Sumerians call it the Zikmak Festival,” Luqman Mahmoud, from the Lalish communication center, told Rudaw English at the temple.
Each year, Yazidis from around the world return to the Kurdistan Region to celebrate Red Wednesday at the holy Lalish Temple, where they offer prayers and light fires, a deeply rooted symbol in their faith to welcome the rise of life and the new year.
“Fire has a special sacredness in Yazidi mythology. Throughout historical periods, from the time of Sumerian civilization to Babylonian, Median, and Mithraic civilizations, fire has been lit in their temples. Since the Yazidis are the continuation of these civilizations, fire also has a special sacredness in their religious practices,” said Yazidi writer Hogir Haydo.
Haydo noted that, according to belief, the first person to light the sacred fire was named Yazidi, a figure whose act is said to have inspired the fire-lighting ritual that continues in Yazidism to this day.
On the eve of the festival, Yazidis light candles and oil wicks as religious singers recite hymns and prayers throughout the sacred valley.
“This festival dates back to the time when human civilization emerged. This festival was first celebrated in the city of Eridu [viewed as a symbolic place of origin], and until now, the traditions and rituals of the Yazidis continue,” Haydo added.
As part of the ritual, Yazidis boil eggs on the festival day, attaching them with a mixture of mud and special spices. The mixture and the egg are then applied above entrance doors, with a flower placed at the center, symbolizing renewal and protection.
“Among the rituals of this festival, early on the morning of the festival, women wake up to hang red flowers along with the Giyay Benav [nameless herb] and colored eggshells over the doorways of houses. This is a sign and symbol of the new year, the month of April, and spring, and is a very ancient symbol in Yazidism,” Khald Khdr from the Lalish Media Network said in a statement in 2019.
Farmers hold a sacred role in Yazidism, and the use of eggshells from the festival carries symbolic meaning. The shells are scattered over farmland the following day as a natural fertilizer to nourish the earth. Planting is avoided during this time, as Yazidis believe the earth is reborn and must be treated as a newborn.
Yazidis also refrain from marriage during the second half of April, believing it marks the beginning of the new year, a sacred period in which the month itself is regarded as a bride.
The cultural richness of the site and its rituals draw a great number of tourists each year, particularly during Yazidi ceremonies.
A group of tourists from Utiel municipality in Spain’s Valencia, who joined the celebrations with a Kurdish tour guide, expressed admiration for the richness of Kurdish culture and the depth of Yazidi traditions.
“My friends and I are coming from Utiel in Spain, and we found out about this event thanks to my guide who brought us here and told us about this special tradition, and all about it, and so far we are having a great time. We didn't know anything about it, and we are so amazed because we haven't seen anything like that before,” Laura Ortiz, the visiting tourist, told Rudaw English.
“Our main goal was to change the image of Kurdistan, which is always linked with war and negativity, to show the real beauty that really exists,” said Mohammed Dilshad, the tourism company founder.
“We were successful to show many different, represent actually many different minorities of Kurdistan to the world as well. For example, we did a tour for the Akito festival, which is the Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian New Year, and then the Yazidi New Year, which is the Chashambah Serenisani [ first wednesday of yezidi new year], and we were able to bring a lot of people to see this celebration,” he added.
The Yazidi ethnoreligious community bore the brunt of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) atrocities during their brazen offensive across large swathes of Iraq in 2014, particularly as the jihadists moved on the community’s heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) and captured it.
In the assault on Shingal, ISIS militants abducted 6,417 Yazidi women and children, many of whom were subjected to sexual slavery and forced labor. Although the group was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, it continues to pose a security risk.
To date, 2,590 individuals are still missing, according to statistics provided by Hussein Qaidi, head of the Office of Rescuing Abducted Yazidis, affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency.