Kurdish People - Culture

Culture

Main articles: Kurdish culture, Kurdish literature, and Kurdish women

Kurdish culture is a legacy from the various ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society, but primarily of three layers of indigenous (Hurrian), ancient Iranian, and Islamic roots. Kurdish culture is close to that of other Iranian peoples. Kurds, for instance, also celebrate Newroz (March 21) as New Year's Day. Kurdish films mainly evoke poverty and the lack of rights of Kurdish people in the region. Yılmaz Güney (Yol ) and Bahman Qubadi (A Time for Drunken Horses, Turtles Can Fly) are among the better-known Kurdish directors.

In contrast to many neighboring Muslim populations, Kurdish women are not secluded and do not wear the face veil. Kurdish men and women participate in mixed-gender dancing during feasts, weddings and other social celebrations. Major Soane, a British colonial officer during World War I, noted that this is unusual among Islamic people and pointed out that in this respect Kurdish culture is more akin to that of eastern Europe than to their West Asian counterparts.

Read more about this topic:  Kurdish People

Famous quotes containing the word culture:

    “When women finally get liberated, they’ll do the same that men do—dog eat dog— that’s what our culture is.... Not cooperation but assassination. Women will cooperate until they attain certain goals. Then one will begin to destroy the other.”
    —Alice Neel (1900–1984)

    “The fact remains that the human being in early childhood learns to consider one or the other aspect of bodily function as evil, shameful, or unsafe. There is not a culture which does not use a combination of these devils to develop, by way of counterpoint, its own style of faith, pride, certainty, and initiative.”
    —Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)

    “The genius of American culture and its integrity comes from fidelity to the light. Plain as day, we say. Happy as the day is long. Early to bed, early to rise. American virtues are daylight virtues: honesty, integrity, plain speech. We say yes when we mean yes and no when we mean no, and all else comes from the evil one. America presumes innocence and even the right to happiness.”
    —Richard Rodriguez (b. 1944)