Ezidi New Year celebration "Red Wednesday" in Mosul

MOSUL, IRAQ - APRIL 14: People attend the celebrations of Ezidi New Year, known as Sere Sal or Chwarshaba Sor, meaning “Head of the Year, commemorated on a particular Wednesday of April known as Red Wednesday, at Lalish Temple in Sheyhan district of Mosul, Iraq on April 14, 2015. Candles are lit at all corners of the temple and sky lanterns are released during the celebrations where Ezidis kiss the hand of Baba Shiekh, the Yezidi “Pope.” Every year, on "Red Wednesday" in April, Ezidis mark the beginning of the New Year, the day that Tawsi Melek first came to Earth millions of years ago in order to calm the planet’s quaking and spread his peacock colors throughout the world. The New Year celebration is one of the three main Yezidi feasts. The ceremony started on Tuesday evening in Lalish Temple, the main Ezidi temple, which is 60 km north of Mosul, in Shekhan. (Footage by Ferhat Jahan Panah / Anadolu Agency)