Kurdish Clothes Day Date in the current year: March 10, 2024

Kurds are an ethnic group native to a region in the Middle East historically known as Kurdistan. It spans northern Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. Additionally, there are significant Kurdish diaspora communities in other countries, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Belgium, and more. Kurds don’t have a national state, therefore the preservation of their language and traditions is of particular importance for them as a people.

Kurdish Clothes Day is celebrated by Kurds all over the world, especially in Syria and Iraq, on March 10. It celebrates the traditional Kurdish costume that has remained unchanged for centuries. A lot of Kurdish men and women still prefer their distinctive traditional costumes to western-style clothing.

For example, Kurdish men usually wear baggy trousers, a shirt and a sash that goes around the waist. The costume also includes a long wool overcoat, a vest, or an embroidered coat, depending on the occasion. Most men also wear a keffiyeh (kufiya), a traditional headdress fashioned from a square scarf. The traditional Kurdish women’s outfit consists of puffy pants, a long gown, and sometimes also a vest, long-sleeved jacked or overcoat worn over the gown.

Kurdish men usually wear dark clothes (gray, brown or dark blue). Light colors (white or beige) are reserved for special occasions. Women, on the contrary, often wear gowns made from bright, shiny fabrics (yellow, red, green, blue, purple, turquoise, etc.). In addition, gowns are usually adorned with beads, sequins and intricate embroidery.

Young women typically wear brightly colored and richly adorned dresses, whereas dresses worn by older women tend to be more modest and darker in color. However, older women tend to wear more gold jewelry because it is traditional for women to receive gold jewelry pieces as a dowry or a gift from the groom when they’re getting married.

Today, young Kurds tend to wear western-style clothes in everyday life. However, on Kurdish Clothes Day all Kurds – young and old, men and women – wear traditional costumes and take part in colorful festive events with traditional music, songs and dances. Members of the Kurdish diaspora abroad often organize fashion shows to showcase the traditional costumes and educate people about Kurdish culture. For most Kurds, this day is an occasion to highlight their unity as a people and feel spiritual and cultural kinship with other Kurds who live in other regions and even on other continents.