Feature: Against grief, Syrian Kurds celebrate Nowruz after deadly car bombings

For the Syrian Kurds, Nowruz, a festival marking the first day of spring, should be celebrated with laughter and joy. No one would expect that this year's celebrations could be somewhat different.

On Friday, just one day ahead of the traditional new year beginning, two car bombs exploded close to a group of Kurdish civilians who were celebrating the festival in northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah, killing at least 40, including women and children, while some 73 others were wounded in the attacks.

Despite the sorrow and such terrible losses, hundreds of Kurds still came out for the special day on Saturday.

The celebration this year was even bigger than that of previous years, and was attended by a host of government officials and foreign diplomats, including Iranian and Russian ambassadors.

The crowds danced and bounced to the beats of ethnic Kurdish and Arabic music in a bid to express love and close bonds among all factions of the Syrian society, which was extremely challenged by a four-year-old conflict that still sees no end in sight.

Apart from internal conflict, the Kurds have also suffered a lot because of the rise of the Islamic State (IS) militant group and al-Qaida-linked terrorist operatives.

Friday's twin car bombing attacks were later confirmed as a plot by the IS group.

"I am really speechless. Everyone here is celebrating and caring about attending this event," Shadia Abdu, a Syrian Kurdish woman, told Xinhua.

"I felt pain in my heart ... too many were killed including children but in spite of that, we are celebrating. We must celebrate no matter what they do," she said.

To Isra'a Hasan, another Kurdish woman, the festivity has a special meaning, and because it is celebrated by people with various religious and social backgrounds, it can boost the social awareness that despite their difference in ethnicity and religion, they are one people after all.

"Today we are all celebrating, Arab and Kurds and Christians. There is no difference between us and I cannot explain the joy that we have while celebrating this day because Nowruz is the day of freedom," she said.

She also mentioned the blasts' victims, saying she is celebrating on their behalf.

"We promise that their blood will not go in vain. Every drop of their blood was spelled so that we can live and we will celebrate on their behalf," she added.

Kurds in Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon and Iranians mark Nowruz on March 21 every year. The feast can date back to the pre-Islamic religion of Zoroastrianism.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, the Kurds, who mostly live in the north of the embattled country, have strived to keep the rebels out of the areas they control in order to ensure that their territory remain free of violence.

In mid 2012, Syrian troops withdrew from most of the Kurdish areas, and Kurdish militia, mainly the People Protection Units (YPG), became responsible for the security there.

But as the circle of violence stretched to engulf all Syrian cities, the Kurds, who pose some 15 percent of Syria's 23 million inhabitants, have found themselves obliged to fight against the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the IS.

The radical rebels have tried to overrun Kurdish areas as part of their bigger plan to control large swathes of territories in the northern provinces of Aleppo, Hasakah, Qamishly and al-Raqqa.

Clashes have recently been raging between the IS and the YPG in the countryside of al-Hasakah after the Kurdish fighters dislodged the IS from the key border city of Ayn al-Arab, or Kobane, earlier this year. Endit