According to Kurdish myth, Kawa lived for 2,500 years under the tyranny of Zahhak, an Assyrian who is named Zuhak or Dehak by the Kurds. Dehak\'s evil reign caused spring to no longer come to Kurdistan. March 20 is traditionally marked as the day that Kawa defeated Dehak. He is then said to have set fires on the hillsides to celebrate the victory and summon his supporters; subsequently spring returned to Kurdistan the next day.

In some of the present Kurdish versions of the story of Zahhak and Kawe, there is no mention of Fereydun. Although in the Ahl-e Haqq (Yarsan) Kurdish tradition, Kawa rebelled against Zahak and helped Fereydun bound Zahak in Damavand.
This legend is now used by the Kurds to remind themselves that they are a different, strong people, and the lighting of the fires has since become a symbol of freedom.

In the 1930s, the Kurdish poet Taufik Abdullah, wanting to instil a new Kurdish cultural revival, used a previously known modified form of the story of Kaveh, (written as Kawa in Kurdish). He connected the myths where people felt oppressed with Newroz, thus reviving a dying holiday and made it a symbol of Kurdish national struggle. However it should be noted that Kurds celebrated Newroz long before this, and the word Newroz has been mentioned in the Kurdish poetry of 16th century.

Indeed the arrival of spring was celebrated in Asia Minor since neolithic times, a good example is the Indo-European Phrygians who mourned the death of Attis, and rejoiced over his resurrection during the fourth week of March.

Newroz in Kurdish literature

Newroz has been mentioned in works of many Kurdish poets and writers as well as musicians. One of the earliest records of Newroz in Kurdish literature is from Melayê Cizîrî (1570–1640):

Whithout the light and the fire of Love,
Without the Designer and the power of Creator,
We are not able to reach Union.
(Light is for us and dark is the night)
This fire massing and washing the Heart,
My heart claim after it.
And here come Newroz and the New Year,
When a such light is rising.

Also the famous Kurdish writer and poet Piramerd (1867–1950) writes in his 1948 poem Newroz:

The New Year’s day is today. Newroz is back.
An ancient Kurdish festival, with joy and verdure.
For many years, the flower of our hopes was downtrodden
The fresh rose of spring was the blood of the youth
It was that red colour on the high horizon of Kurd
Which was carrying the happy tidings of dawn to remote and near nations
It was Newroz which imbued the hearts with such a fire
That made the youth receive death with devoted love
Hooray! The sun is shining from the high mountains of homeland
It is the blood of our martyrs which the horizon reflects
It has never happened in the history of any nation
To have the breasts of girls as shields against bullets
Nay. It is not worth crying and mourning for the martyrs of homeland
They die not. They live on in the heart of the nation.

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Newroz or Nûroj refers to the celebration of the traditional Kurdish new year holiday of Newroz in Kurdistan. Newroz is celebrated throughout the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia such as in Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Turkey (By its Kurdish nation). Newroz is also celebrated by some communities in Pakistan. In Kurdish legend, the holiday celebrates the deliverance of the Kurds from a tyrant, and it is seen as another way of demonstrating support for the Kurdish cause.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The celebration is commonly transliterated Newroz by the Kurds and coincides with the spring equinox which falls mainly on 21 March and the festival is held usually between the 18th and 24 March. The festival currently has an important place in the terms of Kurdish identity for the majority of Kurds, mostly in Turkey and Syria. Though celebrations vary, people generally gather together to welcome the coming of spring; people wear colored clothes and flags of green, yellow and red, the colors of the Kurdish people are waved.

In The Meadows of Gold by Muslim historian Masudi, and Shahnameh, a poetic opus written by the Sharafnameh of medieval Kurdish historian Sherefxan Bidlisi, Zahhak is an evil king who conquers Kurdistan and who has serpents growing out of his shoulders. The Iranian Zahak\'s rule lasts for a thousand years during which two young kurdish men are sacrificed daily to provide their brains to the serpents to alleviate the pain that Zahak felt. The man who was charged with slaughtering two young people each day would instead kill one person a day and would mix their brains with that of a sheep, thus saving one young man a day. As discontent grows against Zahhak\'s rule, the nobleman plan a revolt, being led by Kaveh, a blacksmith (cf. Ossetian Kurdalægon), who has lost six sons to Zahhak. Therefor, the saved young children (who according to the legend were ancestors of the Kurds) are then trained by Kawa into an army marches to Zahhak\'s castle where Kawa kills the king with a hammer; eventually Kawa instates Fereydun as king. The root of this story goes back to ancient Iranian legends. According to Evliya Çelebi, the district (sancak) of Merkawe in Shahrazur (Sharazur) is named after the blacksmith Kawe(Kaveh), who overthrew Zahhak. The 12th century geographer Yaqoot Hamawi, mentions Zor son of Zahhak (Aji Dahak) as founder of the famous city of Sharazor.

According to Kurdish myth, Kawa lived for 2,500 years under the tyranny of Zahhak, an Assyrian who is named Zuhak or Dehak by the Kurds. Dehak\'s evil reign caused spring to no longer come to Kurdistan. March 20 is traditionally marked as the day that Kawa defeated Dehak. He is then said to have set fires on the hillsides to celebrate the victory and summon his supporters; subsequently spring returned to Kurdistan the next day.

In some of the present Kurdish versions of the story of Zahhak and Kawe, there is no mention of Fereydun. Although in the Ahl-e Haqq (Yarsan) Kurdish tradition, Kawa rebelled against Zahak and helped Fereydun bound Zahak in Damavand.
This legend is now used by the Kurds to remind themselves that they are a different, strong people, and the lighting of the fires has since become a symbol of freedom.

In the 1930s, the Kurdish poet Taufik Abdullah, wanting to instil a new Kurdish cultural revival, used a previously known modified form of the story of Kaveh, (written as Kawa in Kurdish). He connected the myths where people felt oppressed with Newroz, thus reviving a dying holiday and made it a symbol of Kurdish national struggle. However it should be noted that Kurds celebrated Newroz long before this, and the word Newroz has been mentioned in the Kurdish poetry of 16th century.

Indeed the arrival of spring was celebrated in Asia Minor since neolithic times, a good example is the Indo-European Phrygians who mourned the death of Attis, and rejoiced over his resurrection during the fourth week of March.

Newroz in Kurdish literature

Newroz has been mentioned in works of many Kurdish poets and writers as well as musicians. One of the earliest records of Newroz in Kurdish literature is from Melayê Cizîrî (1570–1640):

Whithout the light and the fire of Love,
Without the Designer and the power of Creator,
We are not able to reach Union.
(Light is for us and dark is the night)
This fire massing and washing the Heart,
My heart claim after it.
And here come Newroz and the New Year,
When a such light is rising.

Also the famous Kurdish writer and poet Piramerd (1867–1950) writes in his 1948 poem Newroz:

The New Year’s day is today. Newroz is back.
An ancient Kurdish festival, with joy and verdure.
For many years, the flower of our hopes was downtrodden
The fresh rose of spring was the blood of the youth
It was that red colour on the high horizon of Kurd
Which was carrying the happy tidings of dawn to remote and near nations
It was Newroz which imbued the hearts with such a fire
That made the youth receive death with devoted love
Hooray! The sun is shining from the high mountains of homeland
It is the blood of our martyrs which the horizon reflects
It has never happened in the history of any nation
To have the breasts of girls as shields against bullets
Nay. It is not worth crying and mourning for the martyrs of homeland
They die not. They live on in the heart of the nation.