Çarşema Êzî (Yazidi New Year): Calendar, Rituals, and Regional Variations

This entry provides a scholarly overview of Çarşema Êzî, the Yazidi New Year, drawing on primary Yazidi sources, ethnographic fieldwork, and recent festival documentation.

Çarşema Êzî (Kurmanji: Çarşema Sor), literally “Red Wednesday,” is the annual Yazidi New Year celebrated on the first Wednesday on or after 14 April in the Gregorian calendar, marking the day creation was completed in Yazidi cosmology (source 1).

Pronunciation & orthography

The term is spelled Çarşema Sor in Latin‑script Kurmanji, ⴰⵔⵙⴰⵎⴰ ⵙⵓⵔ in Kurdish‑Arabic script, and Чаршема Сор in Cyrillic used by some diaspora publications. IPA: /t͡ʃɑɾˈʃe.ma ˈsoɾ/. Common English misspellings include “Charshama Sor” and “Red Wednesday”.

Main exposition

Calendar and date determination

The Yazidi calendar is lunisolar, anchored to the Julian and Seleucid systems. The New Year begins on the first Wednesday on or after 14 April (Gregorian), a rule that aligns the festival with the spring equinox and the historic “sun‑touch” myth (source 1). Because the Julian calendar lags the Gregorian by 13 days, the Yazidi date corresponds to early April in the Gregorian year.

Ritual practices

Celebrations start on the eve of Wednesday (Tuesday evening), when Yazidis consider the day to begin at sunset. Families boil and colour eggs, bake the ceremonial sawuk bread, and visit the graves of ancestors with fruit and incense (source 1). At night, candles and paraffin lamps are lit outside temples, especially the sacred sanctuary of Lalish, where the dark‑cave Zemzem spring flows (source 2).

“We light the lamps at the entrance of the cave, asking for the blessings of the primordial pearl of light.” – Yazidi elder, Lalish, 2022.

On the day itself, worshippers climb the hills surrounding Lalish, fastening colourful ribbons to trees as symbols of fertility and renewal (source 1). A communal feast follows, featuring lamb, rice pilaf, and the sweet sawuk, while traditional music and the rhythmic daf drum accompany the dances.

Symbolic elements

The colour red, evident in the festival’s name, represents the first sunrise that, according to Yazidi belief, painted the world red when Tawûsî Melek descended on a Wednesday (source 3). Eggs symbolize new life; the boiled, dyed eggs echo the creation of the world from a luminous pearl (dur). The sacred spring Zemzem signifies the flow of divine knowledge.

Sacred sites

While most Yazidis observe the festival in their villages, the pilgrimage to Lalish – the holiest Yazidi shrine – attracts tens of thousands each year. Pilgrims perform a ritual washing at the spring, offer fruits on the altar of the Seven Angels, and receive blessings from the Baba Sheikh (source 2).

Food and offerings

Key dishes include sawuk (a round, sweet bread), dolma, and a special stew called qelew. Offerings to the dead consist of boiled wheat, dates, and water, placed on graves to maintain the link between the living and the ancestors (source 1).

In the oral tradition

The festival is embedded in the qewl (sacred hymn) corpus. One well‑known qewl, “Qewla Çarşema Sor,” recounts the creation narrative and calls the faithful to gather at the “mountain of the shining pearl.”

“On the red day, the world was born; we rise with the sun, bearing the light of the pearl.” – Qewl Çarşema Sor (translation).

These verses are recited during the evening prayers, reinforcing the cosmological significance of the day.

Scholarly disagreement

Kreyenbroek argues that the “first Wednesday after 14 April” rule is a later standardization imposed during the Ottoman era to synchronize Yazidi festivals with the civil calendar (source 4). Açıkyıldız counters that the rule is ancient, documented in pre‑modern Yazidi manuscripts that pre‑date Ottoman administration (source 3). The debate continues, with recent fieldwork suggesting regional flexibility in date calculation.

Common misconceptions

Regional variation

In the Sinjar region, the emphasis is on the pilgrimage to Lalish, with large processions of families on foot. In Sheikhan, village‑level rituals dominate, and the “ribbon‑fastening” on hilltops is more elaborate. Syrian Yazidis, especially those near Kobani, incorporate a communal “water‑blessing” ceremony at local springs, reflecting the scarcity of water in their environment (source 3). Turkish Yazidis, many of whom live in diaspora, often celebrate in community centers, adapting the ritual washing to indoor fountains. In the diaspora (Germany, Sweden, USA), the festival is streamed online, and the symbolic lighting of candles is performed in public squares to raise awareness of Yazidi heritage.

Timeline

Data table