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Khidr Elias Festival Tal Afar in Tal Afar
An annual February observance in Tal Afar honoring Khidr (al-Khidr), a figure revered across Islamic, Christian, Yazidi, and Shabak traditions, marking winter's transition to spring. Families prepare a seven-grain dish and some fast for three days, while Tal Afar's version adds Turkmen folk dances and music, reflecting the town's historically mixed Turkmen, Yazidi, and Arab population.
Families across Tal Afar prepare a mixture of seven grains, wheat, barley, chickpeas, beans, sunflower seeds, and corn, when the Khidr Elias festival arrives each February, marking the transition from winter toward spring.