Kurdish culture is a group of distinctive

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

traits practiced by

Kurdish people ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

. The Kurdish culture is a legacy from ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society. Kurds are an ethnic group mainly in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. They live in the north of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

along the

Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوه‌های زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...

and the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir ...

in the region that the Kurds call

Greater Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, ...

. Today they are parts of north-eastern Iraq, north-west of Iran and North East of Syria and southeast Turkey.

Miscellaneous

Nowruz 2017 in Bisaran, Kurdistan province

There is a lot of controversy about the Kurdish people from their origins, their history, and even their political future. Kurds are one of the largest ethnic groups that do not have an independent state recognized universally.

Language

Kurdish (Kurdî) is part of the North-Western division of the Iranian branch of the

Indo-European language family The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

. Basic languages are:

Sorani Central Kurdish (), also called Sorani (), is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two o ...

and

Kurmanji Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Sy ...

in various forms: Sorani, Armenian, Vile,

Southern Kurdish Southern Kurdish ( ku, کوردی باشووری ,کوردی خوارگ, Kurdî Başûrî, Kurdî Xwarig) is one of the dialects of the Kurdish language, spoken predominantly in northeastern Iraq and western Iran. The Southern Kurdish-speaking r ...

, Royal, Zacakian, Bajalān, and Gorani. There are more than 30 million speakers of Kurdish in the Kurdistan region. Kurdish is written in the Arabic alphabet in Iraq and Syria, the adapted Arabic alphabet in Iran and the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

in Turkey. There are three main dialects:

, Soriani and Pehlewani.

Folklore

The Kurds have a rich folkloric tradition which is increasingly endangered as a result of modernization, urbanization, and cultural repression. Kurds celebrate the new year on

Newroz Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among t ...

, and its celebration was often banned by authorities in Turkey and Syria. A well known Kurdish tale is

Mem û Zîn ''Mem and Zin'' ( ku, Mem û Zîn) is a Kurdish classic love story written down in 1692 and is considered to be the épopée of Kurdish literature. It is the most important work of Kurdish writer and poet Ahmad Khani (1651-1707). ''Mam and Zin'' ...

Zembilfrosh

Zembilfrosh (Kurdish for ''"basket seller"'') is a folktale popular in

Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () refers to the southeastern part of Turkey, where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of the ...

and

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

. Zembilfrosh was the son of a powerful Kurdish ruler who left his home and life behind to seek a spiritual life as a

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...

. He wanders the countryside with his faithful wife, surviving by making and selling baskets. One day they arrive in the capital of a Kurdish emirate, where the prince's wife sees Zembilfrosh and falls in love with him. She summons him to the castle, where she declares her love for him and tries to seduce him. Zembilfrosh declines, but she presses, promising him many riches. Zembilfrosh is not persuaded and she locks him in a castle tower, from which he eventually escapes. The prince's wife then disguises herself and starts searching for Zembilfrosh, and eventually finds him. She then deceives Zembilfrosh's wife, convincing her to lend her her clothes and leave the house. When Zembilfrosh returns that night, it is dark and he does not recognize the prince's wife, who welcomes him into bed. However, a silver anklet gives her away, and he runs off, chased after by his would-be-lover. As Zembilfrosh sees that escape is impossible, he prays to God, supplicating to be released from a world of misery, and God complies. Reaching Zembilfrosh's lifeless body, the prince's wife is so heartbroken that she dies as well. They are then buried side by side. Their resting place is claimed to be located at the contemporary town of

Batifa Batifa ( ar, باطوفا, ku, باتيفا, Batîfa) is a town and sub-district in Dohuk Governorate in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is located in the Zakho District. Villages Geography Climate Batufa has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ...

, a subdistrict of the district of

Zakho Zakho, also spelled Zaxo ( ku, زاخۆ, Zaxo, syr, ܙܵܟ݂ܘܿ, Zākhō, , ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Iraq–Turkey bo ...

Duhok governorate ar, محافظة دهوك , image_skyline = Collage_of_Dohuk_Governorate.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_seal = ...

, in

.Christiane Bird, ''A Thousand Sighs, a Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan'', Ballantine Books, 2004, , (see pp 149-150)

Music

Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva attended opening of Kharibulbul Festival in Shusha 15

Kurdish folk music is an important part of Kurdish culture and has traditionally been used to transmit stories about Kurdish history by

Dengbêj Dengbêj is a Kurdish music genre and/or a singer of the music genre Dengbêj. Dengbêjs are singing storytellers. There have been many terms to describe Dengbêjs throughout history, but today Dengbêj is the best known, and also several singing ...

(bards). According to thekurdishproject.org, 'The word ‘deng’ means voice and ‘bej’ means ‘to sing.’ Dengbej are best known for their “stran,” or song of mourning.' Many popular Kurdish musicians of the 20th century like

Hassan Zirak Hassan Zirek () 29 November 1921 – 26 June 1972) was a celebrated Iranian Kurds, Iranian Kurdish songwriter-singer from Bukan, known for his recordings of classical Kurdish language, Kurdish folk songs. He was famous for his classical and sensua ...

and

Ahmet Kaya Ahmet Kaya (28 October 1957 – 16 November 2000) was a Turkish– Kurdish folk singer. Kaya was persecuted by Turkish nationalist celebrities and authorities. Kaya left Turkey in an act of self- exile, and moved to France, where he would sho ...

sang in Turkish or

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

as well as in Kurdish.

Cuisine

Food is widely recognised to be a fundamental part of what it means to be Kurdish. Foods such as

Dolma Dolma (Turkish for “stuffed”) is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with whol ...

(rice stuffed in grape leaves), kfta (spiced minced meat cased in thin layer of mashed pudding rice), Ser u pe (goats head, tongue and feet), shifta (meat patties), are traditional Kurdish foods. Lamb and chicken have been staple meats in Kurdish cuisine for centuries. Vegetables, pilaf and dairy products also comprise a large portion of traditional Kurdish food. Tea is also staple to a Kurdish diet. It is commonly drunk 2-3 times a day, commonly a social activity. Kurds also drink Mastaw/Do'h/

Ayran Ayran, doogh, dhallë, daw, xynogala or tan is a cold savory yogurt-based beverage popular across Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeastern Europe, North Asia and Eastern Europe. The principal ingredients are yogurt, water and salt. ...

, a yogurt-based drink.

Religion

The Kurdish people have different religions depending on the country in which they live in or they have cultural and ethnic links to that religion, the most common religion among Kurds is

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

, practiced by 98% of Kurds living in

. The Kurds of Turkey are 30%

Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...

out of a population of approximately 15-22 million Kurds and 68% follow Sunni Islam.

References

External links

A Brief Survey of the History of the Kurds
by

Kendal Nezan Kendal Nezan is a French-Kurdish nuclear physicist and president of the Kurdish Institute of Paris. He was born in Turkey. He is also a board member of the Washington Kurdish Institute. In 1975, Nezan established the France-Kurdistan Society, w ...

, President of the

Kurdish Institute of Paris The Kurdish Institute of Paris (french: Institut kurde de Paris), founded in February 1983 by (amongst others) film producer Yılmaz Güney and poet Cigerxwîn, is an organization focused on the Kurdish language, culture, and history. It is one ...

.
Gulan
is a UK registered charity promoting the culture of Kurdistan. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdish Culture Western Asian culture