SANANDAJ, Iran — Kurds in Iran are seemingly turning their backs on Newroz traditions amid a worsening economic crisis, with the Kurdish clothing market taking a sharp turn for the worse this year.

“During corona we shut our shops for one month… most people would come to the shop asking for clothes. We still had demand to an extent, but now it’s not like that,” Kawa Guli, a tailor in Sanandaj told Rudaw on March 8.

“Corona has decreased but there is still no market, and the real reason is the economic crisis. If one piece [of clothing] was 50,000 [tomans] ($2) last year, the same piece is now more than 100,000 ($4) ” he added.

Newroz celebrations in Iran include buying fruits, pastries, dried nuts and entertaining guests. Buying new clothes is also traditional, as is changing the furniture, for those who can afford it, but as middle-class families have been pushed under poverty-line and the poor have gotten poorer, even buying clothes is a struggle.

Iran’s Kurdistan province has been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In a country which has already seen one of the worst battles against the virus in the Middle East, the death rate in the province was 12.6 percent in March last year, double the national average.

Despite the pandemic, millions of people across the country took trips to mark the New Year, despite state and international health organisations calls to stay home to curb the spread of the virus.

This year, however, it seems that people are less inclined to celebrate.

“I have bought less in terms of quality and quantity compared to previous years. The people are like me as well, because of the market decline. The prices change daily, the situation has become so bad,” customer Abid Babak said in Sanandaj.

“The Newroz market starts from the 12th month [Iranian calendar]. It should be better, but instead of getting better it’s getting worse. The market was better before this. I sold my first item at 4:00 and I’ve been here since this morning. The market is really bad, and people’s purchasing power has declined,” said Gharib Mohammed Rezayi, a fabric shop owner.

Iran’s economy is in a dire shape mainly due to mismanagement, US sanctions, low oil prices and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The economy has left hundreds of thousands of workers unemployed or in desperate need of government subsidies.

“I was expecting the market to get better day by day, but it’s getting worse,” continued Rezayi.

Rudaw