Village Day becoming increasingly popular in Kurdistan Region's Pishdar
With their shovels and mattocks, Esewa village dwellers went to the Bonxosha resort a day before the annual Village Day to prepare spots for their group picnic.
They prepared 200 spots under 200 trees at the base of Asos Mountain in Bonxosha, which means 'The nice smell'.
The next day, May 7, two hundred families filled the resort, marking their annual group picnic day. Men started gathering dried wood and then made a fire. Women started cooking typical Kurdish local dishes such as dolma, biryani, kubba, kebab, rice and okra soup, and local chicken stew.
Esewa is one of the six subdistricts of Sulaimani province's Pishdar district. It has a population of 2,500, including the ten villages surrounding it. Pishdar's other five subdistricts are Halsho, Hero, Qaladize, Jarawa, and Sangasar. Each one of these subdistricts has its own annual group picnic day.
"We are more than 1,500 people here, coming from Esewa and the villages surrounding it," Ali Khidir, an Esewa resident, told Kurdistan 24. "We all know each other. We are relatives and neighbors enjoying our Picnic Day this year."
Four hundred and fifty families are marking Esewa Day this year, a significant increase compared to last year's turnout of 200.
Esewa Day started in May 2005, when more than 20 young families gathered in Bonxosha without any prior plans.
"In 2005, I brought my family for a picnic, and when I got here, I saw many other families here," said Dler Rasul, an Esewa resident. "The idea of Esewa day came from our talks. One of us said, 'We should have a day for all the families to come and picnic here.' And we did it. Each year more families join. And other sub-districts in Pishdar followed us. And now they have their own picnic day."
The young men set some ground rules. Picnickers must not harm the nature and keep the area clean. Also, guests from outside Esewa are welcome to participate.
"We announced the rules so that children and adults don't destroy people's farming fields, and everyone must clean their spot before they leave," Rasul said.
Two young people from Esewa created a Facebook page where they announce the date and discuss their activities. One of the posts read, "Esewa Day welcomes everyone in Kurdistan!"
"This is the most amazing and largest group picnic I have ever seen," said Kani Mohammed, a resident from Erbil. "We saw the post on social media, and we came here. The green scenery, the mountainous landscape, the colorful flowers. I have no words to describe it."