Written by Loya Demir
New (new) Roj-Roz (day), with the arrival of spring, many nations celebrate Newroz in a festive mood. However, Newroz is not just a holiday in terms of Kurdish history. It is also a celebration of the victory of a resistance.
It was a blacksmith named Kawa (Kawayê Hesinker) who started the resistance. This story is told in Rojhalat (Eastern Iran) Kurdistan, Bakur (North-Turkey) Kurdistan, and Bashur (South-Iraq) Kurdistan as follows:
In 612 BC, there was a ruthless ruler in Kurdistan named Dehak (Zuhak) of Assyria. Dehak was sitting on a rock in a very solid castle.
Sovereign Dehak kept many wild animals. He ate the brains of the young and fed them to his animals. He ordered his people, of which he was king, to bring human brains prepared to be eaten daily to his castle. The people who obeyed this order brought human brains to the king's castle every day. After a while, the people spoiled this inhuman diet. Dehak ordered his soldiers to round up the people who had failed at his command and bring them to his fortress. Thus, the people were gathered by the soldiers and taken to the castle. Many people in the castle were killed to protect their children.
After a while, the public prepared their children's brains to be beaten and then found a way to save their children. Meanwhile, the Sovereign, as Dehak's soldiers wandered among the people and constantly determined the number of children, the people smuggled their rescued children into the mountains, and there gave military training. Lamb's hair appeared on a brain taken to the king. The king understood the situation that day. Upon this situation, the king sent his soldiers to the children. He ordered them to prepare their brains and bring them. Following this order, the soldiers slaughtered the children, prepared their brains, and brought them before the king. As this situation continues, a blacksmith named Kawa lived in a village three meters from the castle where the king lived. Kawa made weapons and tools of war for the king's soldiers. Blacksmith Kawa had also prepared the heads of his seven children and given them to the king. His last child took a stand against the king. He distributed the war vehicles from the warehouses to the villages and called for them to take their children and goods and retreat to the mountains. Upon this call, all the villages were evacuated. Before the eyes of his soldiers, the villages turned into ruins in an instant. Kawa told the villagers gathered in the mountains that the cruel ruler should be avenged and his persecution should end. Villagers crushed under the king's cruelty, upon Kawa's suggestion, and swore to take revenge on the king. The villagers and military trainees in the mountains united under the leadership of Kawa.
Under the control of Blacksmith Kawa, the villagers, and warriors descended from the mountains two days later and surrounded the stronghold of the tyrant King Dehak. A group of young warriors sneaked up on the castle walls at night. After killing their guards, they opened the castle gates to the villagers and warriors waiting in front of the castle walls. Blacksmith Kawa entered with the spear at the very front of the gates of the castle that opened and the sword he had made to slit the king's throat. Peasants and warriors entered after him. After the system of the king in the castle was destroyed, they set fire to the fort, along with everything in it, and burned it. Villagers and warriors played and had fun around the flames of the burned castle until the morning. Thus, Blacksmith Kawa peasants and warriors under his rule celebrated their liberation from the tyrannical king by overthrowing the regime of Tirana."
March 21, 612 BC. This date is known and celebrated as the liberation date of the Kurdish people. According to the written dates, on March 21, 612, the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh was conquered by the Medes and Kaldahars united.
References:
Sucu, S. (2023, March 21). Demirci Kawa'nın zalim Dehak'a karşı direnişi: Newroz. Gaia Dergi. https://gaiadergi.com/demirci-kawanin-zalim-dehaka-karsi-direnisi-newroz/
DEMİRCİ KAWA EFSANESİ. (2022, March 8). Bernamegeh. https://www.bernamegeh.com/demirci-kawa-efsanesi/
Dağlı, F. (2021, December 26). Newroz anlatilarinin kaynaklari. Bernamegeh. https://www.bernamegeh.com/newroz-anlatilarinin-kaynaklari/
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