Kurds Celebrate Nowruz Amid Conflicts and Returns

Kurds across the Middle East gathered on Friday to celebrate Nowruz, the ancient Persian New Year marking the spring equinox, in processions of torchlit hikes and dances that underscored their cultural identity amid ongoing regional conflicts and political shifts.

In the ancient town of Akre in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, hundreds of Kurds from Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey braved stormy skies and the threat of Iranian drones and missiles to climb a mountainside at sunset. Participants carried flaming torches made of burning burlap, placing them beside a large Kurdish flag to symbolize the triumph of light over darkness, drawing from a Kurdish myth of a blacksmith leading villagers to overthrow a tyrannical king. This year, the flames also formed the numbers "2" and "1," evoking the Kurdish saying that "two plus two equals one," representing unity across the divided regions of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Women in flowing, embroidered dresses and men in traditional baggy trousers and sashes joined the ritual, which has drawn crowds to Akre for decades as a core expression of Kurdish heritage.

Further west in Syria's Afrin district, the festivities held deeper significance for...