All the material in this article was inspired by listening to ‘Rob’, who lived among the Kurds of Northern Iraq for 11 years with his family, before returning to the UK to carry on similar ministry.[1]

Doesn’t winter drag on some days, especially when the cold and damp seem to linger in your bones? Solomon was onto something when writing this beautiful Spring poetry:

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Song of Songs 2:11-12

What tangible tokens of hope: weather warming, soggy ground drying, flowers blooming, birds chirping and dare I wish for butterflies fluttering and bees a-buzzing?

“Hands in the dirt, head      in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”[2]

So much for my very British Gardeners Question Time take on Spring, but what do other nations bring to the table at Springtime and how might their traditions provide gospel opportunities?

At least a dozen countries between Turkey and the Central Asian ‘stans’ celebrate a fascinating Spring festival around March 21st called Newroz or New Day.[3] The main three ethnic groups that celebrate Newroz, Kurds, Iranians and Afghans, all have a slightly different take on a common Middle Eastern myth.

Here’s the Kurdish version of the myth, which I first heard from Rob in a Newroz seminar:

After the death of the great Persian King Jamshid, the evil tyrant Zahhak usurped the throne and establishing a reign of terror. Aggravating an already cruel nature, Zahhak was afflicted by two snakes growing out of his shoulders, causing him great pain.

Evil Zahak and his two snakes

The only way to alleviate the terrible pain was for the snakes to be fed the brains of boys and girls each day. Consequently, two young people were slaughtered daily and their brains fed to the voracious snakes.

The man charged with this horrible duty was the local blacksmith, named Kawa. Driven by grief, having lost of most of his own children, Kawa thought of a ruse to reduce the slaughter. Every day he replaced one young person with a sheep, mixing the brains and thus saving one life. This subterfuge continued successfully for a long time and many young people escaped slaughter. Each person rescued was told to leave the country and stay hidden in the inaccessible Zagros Mountains.

As time went by they grew into a large community and started to intermarry. They learnt how to survive by hunting and fishing and riding wild horses. For many years they evaded human company, staying away from the towns and developing a language of their own. They learned how to sing and dance and from the safety of the forests and mountains they tilled the valley soil and began to spread with their growing flocks over the region’s deserts and steppes. They were called Kurds.

From Kawa they also learnt how to fight, and one day they streamed out of the mountains and stormed evil Zahhak’s castle. Kawa raced up the staircase to Zahhak’s chambers and wielding the tools of his trade he dealt a fatal blow to the wicked tyrant with his blacksmith’s hammer. Kawa the humble hero had finally defeated Zahhak the evil oppressor.

So much for the basic Newroz story, which has many variations, but on March 21st what do people actually do to celebrate the Spring equinox? Here are a few things, in the run up and on the day itself, with a few regional distinctives:

  • Families come together and take time off work, children play
  • Kurds go out to the mountains to sing, dance and BBQ
  • People light fires and torches and some even jump over the fire
  • Women and children pick flowers and dress up colourfully
  • Some men dress up as Kawa and Zahhak and re-enact the myth
  • Iranians prepare a table with seven lovely things that begin with ‘s’ in Farsi[4]
  • Stories are told and retold, Iranians add an important book to their table
  • Afghans enjoy kite flying and play Buzkashi (Afghan polo, with a strange twist)
  • Homes enjoy some Spring cleaning
  • Good food is shared together

The keen observers among you may have spotted that apart from the fire jumping (which probably has Zoroastrian roots)[5] these are all good and wholesome things. Wonderful things, in fact. Have a look back through the list and examine it through the lens of scripture.

Here’s a question for you to ponder. If a person comes to Christ from one of the nations that celebrate Newroz, should we try to stop them celebrating it?

Here’s another question.  Are there any ways to engage evangelistically with Newroz and share Christ through that engagement?

Well, on the one hand, the Bible does take a fairly dim view of myths. Of four NT references to myths, all four are negative: “Have nothing to do with godless myths ….” Paul instructs Timothy.[6] If we only look at these references, then we won’t touch Newroz with a bargepole.

But that’s not the whole NT testimony. Paul himself engaged with pagan writers and poets, most notably in his Areopagus sermon: “’For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28).[7]

Paul also talks about taking thoughts captive: “ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Rob argues that to take thoughts and ideas captive for Christ we have to know about them and understand them. I think he’s right.

Spring festivals are full of God-given delights and put us in mind of James’s words: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, …” (James 1:17).  There may be pagan elements to avoid, yes, but in addition to times to weep and mourn our sovereign God also gives us times to laugh and dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4) and Spring certainly brings those feelings on.

Assuming I’ve convinced you that critical engagement with Newroz is a more Christian response than shunning or ignoring it, then what shape might that engagement take? Think through the myth story line again; are there any echoes of a better story? Think again through the varied ways people mark Newroz; are there any obvious forums for sidling up and getting a seat at the table, as it were?

At Oak Hill College, where I teach, Dr Dan Strange hammered out a reputation for being ‘the subversive fulfilment guy’. I swear he tried to name his dog ‘subversive fulfilment’ before his wife made him see sense. Dan got excited about bringing back insights from Dutch Reformed thinkers, like J.H. Bavinck, who best applied this insight to cross-cultural mission.[8]

The basic idea is that cultures and religions express legitimate human longings, but because of human sinfulness, those hopes and desires are misplaced, with disastrous results (see Romans 1:18ff). It’s a perilous and idolatrous exchange;[9] where the glory of the Creator is swapped for the shimmering fool’s gold of created things.

Flipping it round, because we know that the gospel is the answer to all human need, then looking for those spiritual longings in religious and cultural traditions gives us a clue as to where the gospel might bite best. The message of Jesus subverts, gives the lie to, misplaced worship, while simultaneously providing the ultimate fulfilment of the frustrated desire.

Kawa the blacksmith

Having witnessed Newroz first-hand on many occasions, Rob was struck by the familiar motifs of an evil tyrant, an oppressed people, a longed-for saviour and a decisive victory. Could Jesus be presented as the liberator the Newroz legend signposts? Might the humble Kawa, an ordinary blue-collar worker, be a shadow of or an anticipation of Christ? The Kurds have had lots of potential Kawas over the years, all of them disappointments. Many of their political ‘deliverers’ have turned out to be Zahhaks! Rob would want to say to them; ‘Jesus is the one you’ve always been looking for.’

This longing for a saviour is just one example of a biting point[10] – a perennial human desire for which Jesus is the only true answer. There are plenty of other good starting points around Newroz. What about the evil serpents? How about the notion of substitution and sacrifice? Could you start with the transformation from Winter to Spring? Who doesn’t like the sharing of good food? Might you work with the seven symbols of loveliness? Did you notice the telling and re-telling of stories and the space left on Persian tables for an important book? I’m sure you’ll spot plenty of other great places to start sharing the gospel, though I doubt you can do much with the brain mixing or the Afghan polo!

Sometimes evangelical Christians are accused of having a strong doctrine of redemption but a poor doctrine of creation. If God ‘… richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment’ (1 Timothy 6:17) then we should embrace festivals where God’s good and pleasant gifts are showcased. Newroz is a fantastic time of the year to celebrate Spring with friends from the Middle East and Central Asia, and a great festival at which to sprinkle a little subversive fulfillment!

So why not talk to your Kurdish, Persian and Afghan friends about what they’re doing this Newroz? Show genuine interest and maybe ask how you could get involved? If you don’t yet have any friends from this region, then why not plan a trip to your local shops to get your hair cut, eat lamb Qozi or pick up some date syrup or something? Every UK town plays host to shopping communities populated by friends from these countries. Let’s ‘make the most of every opportunity’ (Ephesians 5:15-16) and embrace Newroz this bright New Day!

Click here for some ideas on how to use Newroz in your ESL classroom.

 

 

Article by David Baldwin

For 2:19 Teach to Reach

February 2023

[1] Rob and Rosina are pseudonyms. If you’d like to get in touch with them, please direct your enquiry to us first at info@twonineteen.org.uk.

[2] Alfred Austin, cited in Frank &Vicky Giannangelo “Growing with the Seasons” (Sunstone Press, 2008)

[3] Variously known as Novruz, Nowrouz, Nooruz, Navruz, Nauroz or Nevruz, this historic rite is observed in many countries along the Silk Roads, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

[4] The seven items are: 1. Somagh (sumac) symbolizes the colour of sunrise, 2. Serkeh (vinegar) symbolizes age and patience, 3. Senjed (dried fruit from lotus tree) symbolizes love, 4. Samanoo (sweet pudding) symbolizes affluence, 5. Sabzeh (sprouts) symbolizes rebirth, 6. Sib (apple) symbolizes health and beauty, 7. Sir (garlic) symbolizes medicine.

[5] Zoroastrians reject the label of ‘fire worshippers’ but the prayers said during fire jumping often seem to address the fire, rather than the God who made it, so seem idolatrous in that respect.

[6] 1 Timothy 4:7. See also 1 Timothy 1:4, 2 Timothy 4:4 and Titus 1:14.

[7] From the Cilician Stoic philosopher Aratus.

[8] Johan Herman Bavinck probably relies on Hendrik Kraemer here. If you want to read a little more, perhaps start with Tim Chester’s blog (https://timchester.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/subversive-fulfilment)

[9] I’m indebted to Dr Dan Strange for much of this language.

[10] I’m not talking about ‘points of contact’, as though we’re all happily holding hands and saying the same thing. We’re not at all saying similar things. I’m talking about ‘wrestling grips’, wherein we have a firm loving embrace, but are scrumming against false belief for Captain Jesus. We scrum down where people already have skin in the game.