It's Jezhn!!

Helloooo Loyal Blog Readers,
Tomorrow is the first day of Jezhn (Eid), I decided for a guest blogger to tell you how the prepraration is done in my part of the world. One hint, if you're in Erbil for Jezhn (or Eid) then get ready to gain a few kilogramssss.

Guest Blogger: Huda Sarhang

Kulicha in the making in the Sarhang household in Erbil

In my house jazhn is no different to other houses in Kurdistan. My beloved mother loves to keep the tradition of making sweets and pastries that we call kulicha. Some might say why putting all this effort and wasting time with making them while you can get it all ready from bazar? The answer is perfectly simple, making kulicha brings the real spirit of Jazhn to our house. Mom loves to prepare everything for Jazhn with her own hands, what makes it special is that we (the kids) all gather to help. My younger sister and brother join us as well. We all have different tasks. I am usually responsible to sit close to the oven and watch the kulicha till it's cooked.

Pari wishes you all a happy eid, as she helps her mother make sweets (Kulicha)

Small confession, yesterday I burned some of the kulicha because I was checking my Facebook and I got punished by making another type of sweet since I wasted a lot. Anyway... eh, going back to the task list. My two little siblings are responsible for helping mom with small things she asks them to bring, sometime they prepare the nuts for making kulicha. While my other sister is responsible for putting the kulicha in two big trays. We usually make big amounts of kulicha. I still don't know why!! But we keep doing that. Every. Single. Year. Over and over again.

Kulicha in Kurdistan is a family fun activity before Jezhn (Eid) festivities 

For us, Jazhn can not pass without making kulicha and sweets,because it brings the amazing, cozy spirit of old Jazhn days we had when I was much younger. Since we have two little Angels (you know, the brother and sister) in my family,Jazhn spirit is still safe, we still get our jazhnana (money from the older to the kids in the fmaily) and we take my sister and brother to have some fun out with new clothes. Even me, I still get my jazhnana (errmmm, yeah, I am 22) It's one of my legal rights and I am not intending to give up on my jazhnana at all. Uncles and other family members each give us with the amount they desire. It has become a habit and a childhood favorite memory that our family hasn't let go of

Kulicha ready to be put into the oven

New clothes, kulicha and jazhnana are the most important three things that makes Jazhn a real Jazhn.

Happy Jazhn beautiful people

Thank you Huda for taking us into your home this Jezhn. Reading this made me smell the Kulicha and sweets at your house. Sadly, the spirit of Jezhn is not as it was before. But it was nice walking through the heart of Erbil yesterday, around the Qaysari bazaar, and sense a Jezhn atmosphere. I hope these traditions never fade.

Tomorrow morning, the house of Kurdish grandparents will be filled with children and grandchildren and little kids in their new clothes. Families then visit one another, try some of the sweets and if there are any problems among people it's an opportunity to ask for forgiveness.

I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Jezhn. I pray that Kurdistan can celebrate in a much better way next year. It's hard to celebrate considering so many of our greater families are in refugee camps, fleeing their homes or fighting against a brutal enemy. Meanwhile, I wait for Huda to visit me (fingers crossed she brings me some of these sweets she's been busy making for the past two days).


Lots of love from our
Nest in Kurdistan

Huda & Sazan


All photos by Huda Sarhang