Iraqi Kurd keeps stilt tradition alive

An Iraqi Kurd is keeping a local tradition alive

commuting across snowy mountains on wooden stilts

Location: Akra

(SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) MUNICIPALITY EMPLOYEE, SABAH ABDELRAHMAN, SAYING: "Using the stilts is fun. They used them in the past because there were no cars and people were herding sheep and cattle. So they used them for walking, for example going to the neighbors house, especially during the winter season. They would walk on them when it was raining, when the snow was melting, to visit neighbors when it was muddy."

Abdelrahman uses the stilts to not only defy gravity

but the decline of local tradition too

(SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) MUNICIPALITY EMPLOYEE, SABAH ABDELRAHMAN, SAYING:"Walking on these crutches makes me very happy because the new generation does not know anything about it. Many people ask me: 'where did you get this idea?' I tell them that this is about our forefathers, our folklore. I go to the city and people greet me, telling me, 'we know you!'"