#yezidism

[tinyuglyworld]

Yezidi boys, Sinjar, Kurdistan

[cagedsanity]

Blue God by Yuki Fae

[divinum-pacis]

April 2025: Shekhan district, Iraq Members of the Yazidi community celebrate Charshama Sor (Red Wednesday) marking the new year of the Yazidi, at the Lalish temple, the main temple of the Yazidi religion Photograph: Gailan Haji/EPA

[forbidden-sorcery]

And I am he to whom the destroying lion came, Raging, and I shouted against it and it became stone. And I am he to whom the serpent came And by my will I made it dust And I am he who struck the rock and made it tremble And caused the sweetest of waters to burst from its side

from the Hymn of Sheikh ‘Adi

[ibnsiqillioccident-blog]

This paper discusses three religious communities in Northern Iraq that are characterized by the shared fate of having been targeted by the 2014 “Islamic State” (IS) offensive. These events dramatically brought home the vulnerability of these communities in post-Saddam Iraq; but the precarious status of these groups was already painfully visible even to the most casual observer prior to the IS onslaught. In this paper, I trace the rather different trajectories of these—initially broadly comparable—minority groups, with a focus on the changing articulation and legitimation of religious leadership. I do so by pointing out some of the longer-term tendencies among these groups, while treating religious leadership in terms of patronage.

[thisiscaucasian-blog]

Yezidi cemetery in Kuchak, Armenia | Walter Callens

Several villages are located on the highway between Ashtarak and Aparan, their graveyards detected by peaked roofs built over the graves.

Yezidis belong to the Kurdish race and are regarded by Kurds as those who keep their original religion. They speak a northern dialect of Kurdish (Kurmanji). Scholars believe that the Yezidis' religion is one of the last surviving offshoots of a faith even older than Judaism or Zoroastrianism, and which it heavily influenced. Known as the "cult of the angels", this early Indo-European faith held that there was only one God but that he created seven angels to serve him. Chief among these, for Yezidis, is the fallen angel who disobeyed his maker. As a result, outsiders have labeled Yezidis "devil worshippers." 

In Armenia, Yezidis are predominantly a pastoral community, with villages concentrated in the central highlands and along alpine meadows in the upper elevations of the country. The community is very shy, though children love to gawk at visitors and have their pictures taken.