The locals from Warte hiked the Karokh Mountain to reach a plain area of an otherwise difficult terrain. Thirty people took part in a horse race, while others who had come to experience the cultural event set up their tents, known as rashmal in Kurdish.
Rizgar Jalal, one of the organizers of the festival, told Rudaw that the event has become bigger with more locals taking part.
“This is to revive the Kurdish tradition. A great number of citizens have taken part in the festival. I am sure there will be even more people who will take part next year,” Jalal told Rudaw's Andam Jabar about the second edition of the festival.
While most of the locals used to live in the same area, previous fighting between the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Baathist regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein and the relocation of people from villages to urban areas has spread the locals out. They say there are only a few social occasions that could bring them together, such as weddings and funerals.
“People nowadays do not have the chance to visit one another even once a year, and people live cities apart,” said Ahmed Abdulqadir, wearing traditional Kurdish clothes.
“Festivals like this are very important to bring the people together,” he stressed.
Bushra Hassan, a young woman wearing colorful Kurdish clothing, spoke of the importance to pass their locals traditions down to the future generations.
“Our ancestors used to live here. They took part in revolutions here,” Hassan said about the area, which used to shelter Peshmerga in their guerilla war against the former Iraqi regime.
“So it is important for our children and the next generation to preserve and see the traditions and culture of this area,” she stressed.
