Plymouth's sizeable Kurdish community is throwing a party

[Anthea]

Plymouth Herald

Plymouth's sizeable Kurdish community is throwing a party – and everyone is invited

The Kurdish community of Plymouth is hoping many people in the city will join them in a celebration dating back hundreds of years - with music, dancing and food.

The celebration to mark Kurdish New Year (Newroz) will feature live Kurdish music and other cultural entertainment.

The Kurdish nation has been celebrating Newroz since the 612BC, a tradition dating back to the myth of Kawa the Blacksmith, who destroyed the tyrant king Dehak and liberated the Kurds.

Shoker Abobeker, of the Plymouth Kurdish Community, said: "Newroz is an ideal opportunity for South West of all backgrounds to celebrate, explore, and educate themselves about the Kurdish community."

The organisation was set up in 2003 to help the large number of Kurdish people living and working in Devon and Cornwall, address their problems and promote their cultural, economic, social and democratic rights.

They provide advice and information for Kurdish refugees in Devon and Cornwall, and organise recreational activities, training, education and classes in the Kurdish language.

At a supplementary school on Sundays, Kurdish children learn their language, maths, science and dance.

Although this year's party is on March 30, the official Kurdish new year is March 21. In the Kurdish language, Newroz means "new day or new sun", by which the Kurds mean the first day of spring. The Kurdish calendar begins on this day.

In the old Zoroastrian religious calendar, the new year falls on or around the spring equinox, celebrating new beginning and new life.

Today, Kurds follow the same calendar as the rest of Europe, but still celebrate the spring new year, along with Iranians, Afghans, Tajiks, Georgians and Turks.

The Kurds from the border lands between Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria are no strangers to life on the run from persecution.

The Kurdish Peshmerga have gained respect since they took a leading role in the battle against the Islamist extremists of ISIS in northern Iraq and Syria. But for generations Kurds have fled to new lives in Europe as regimes around the Middle East have tried to destroy their name, their customs, language and food.

Plymouth was designated a dispersal centre for Kurdish asylum seekers in 2000. Mr Abobeker said there were about 3,600 Kurds in the city and around 5,000 in Devon altogether.

The new year celebration is on March 30 at Plymouth Guildhall, from 5.30pm to 10pm.

For more information, visit pkc.org.uk

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