Kakai youth hold first spring festival west of Erbil

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of Kakai youth put on an arts and culture spring festival on Friday in a town west of Erbil, hoping to make it an annual event.

“We as the youth of the Kakai tribe started the Kakai spring festival in the town of Sifaya. It is the first time we try to do this and God willing it will become a yearly event,” Hawdil Kakai, the head of the organizing group, told Rudaw.

“It is the beginning and we will do something nice with the presence of notable figures in the Kakai tribe, government officials,” he added. “We claim Sifaya as the capital of the Kakais and we want to gather everyone here.”

The one-day festival featured art, folklore, food, sweets, handmade crafts, health-related exhibits, local products, and much more.

It also had a section for books, where people can learn more about their culture and traditions.

Omed Khoshnaw, the governor of Erbil, and several other officials were invited to the festival, according to organizers.

Kakais, who are generally considered to be Kurdish in ethnicity, hold unique spiritual beliefs based upon the 14th century teachings of Sultan Sahak, with roots that transcend the borders that today delineate Kurdish areas of Iraq and Iran.

In Iraq, the group is estimated by Minority Rights Group to number between 110,000 and 200,000 people, mainly living in the Daquq area of southeastern Kirkuk province area and in the Nineveh Plains to the east of Mosul.