Yazidi - Yezidi - Ezidi
Religion, Culture, History ...
A thread

Yazidism is one of the most ancient surviving religions in the world and the Yazidi people are one of the most ancient nations.

The Yazidi religion a monotheistic faith and their unique ethno-religious identity originated in ancient Mesopotamian civilizations and is steeped in a history of more than 6,500 years.

Yazidi cultural practices are observed in their language is called Ezdiki (Kurmanji), which is also used by almost all the orally transmitted religious traditions of the Yazidis.

The Yazidis have been called many things, most notoriously “devil-worshippers”, a term used both by unsympathetic neighbours and fascinated Westerners. This sensational epithet is not only deeply offensive to the Yazidis themselves, but quite simply wrong.

As the Yazidis hold religious beliefs that was mostly unfamiliar to outsiders, many non-Yazidi people have written about them and ascribed to their beliefs facts that have dubious historical validity.

Yazidis (Yezidis or Ezidis) believe in one God (Xode / Xwedê); God has no partners; God who has created the universe, the seven Angels and everything in the universe.

The seven Angels are the emanations of God, which are said to have been created by God from his own light (Nûr). There is no devil, as we feel that God created everything and would never create anything evil.

Yazidis also believe in four sacred: fire, water, earth and wind. During prayer the Yazidis should turn their face toward the sun, which is one of the reasons why they were often called “sun worshipers”.

The Yazidis, also, believe in the reincarnation (rebirth) of the soul, which plays a major role in Yazidism and is called Kiras Gorin (change a shirt, we use the metaphor of a change of garment to describe the process.).

The Yazidi holy books are the Kitêba Jalwa (Book of Revelation) and the Mashafa Raş (Black Book). Their papers were made of light goatskin with Yazidi native language writings on it.

However, it considered the language of religion prayer hymns. The real core texts of the religion that exist today are the religious hymns known as Qawls, they have also been orally transmitted during most of their history.

Yazidi religious beliefs have been handed down orally through Qawls, therefore the history of the Yazidi is an “Oral History”. Because, we have a long history of persecution and oppression from some Muslim neighbours and the pressure of being forced to convert to Islam,

Yazidis retreated to the hills and remain a small oppressed community and had only limited contact with other religious groups, and they have become closed community, which has also led to many untrue accounts about them being published in the literature.

Until the last 50 years, this has been changed as some Yazidis have written a few documents about themselves.

In the 10th century the Arabian historian Al-Samani (1166) in his book “Al-Ansab” describes that the Yazidis are loyal to Yazid Ibn Muawiya, the second Ommayid Caliph.

In some communities this false assertion is still held today and has often been used as an argument and justification for plundering and enslaving the Yazidis.

Since that time, and even today, some Shiites believe that the Yazidis, as followers of Yazid Ibn Muawiya, killed the prophet Ali’s sons Hasan and Hüssein, who were to be Mohammed’s successors.

Some scholars derive the name from the Umayyad Caliph Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, however, all Yazidis reject any relationship between their name and the caliph.

One of the important figures of Yazidism is 'Adī ibn Musafir. Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir settled in the valley of Lalish in the Yazidi mountains in the early 12th century.

Lalish Temple is the main temple of the Ezidi religion.
Yezidis visit it from all over the world, every Yazidi should make a pilgrimage to Lalish in their lifetime if it’s possible. It is unique spot where silence, calm&trees on both sides of the valley, situated in Shekhan/Iraq.

The exact date that Lalish was established is unknown. Historians and archaeologists believe the site could be at least 4,000 years old and a part of Sumer and other ancient civilizations.

A caste system divides the Yazidis into 3 castes;
Sheikhs; the Sheikh caste, which includes the teachers of the religion.
Pirs; the Pîrs duties are similar to the ones of Sheikh, he can attend the majority of the events as well, which the Sheikh attends, if Sheikh is not able to

Murids; better known as the commoners, lay people.
And the marriages have to be contracted with the same group.

#Yazidis #Yezidis #Ezidis

Baba Sheikh has the most effective role in Yazidi religion. His duty to participate in all religious rituals that taking place in Lalish Temple due to his highest position in Yazidi community.

Any religious changes could be done only with his permission. He is obliged to observe long periods of fasting of 40 days in the summer and 40 days in winter.

Baba Chawish, the steward of the temple, is usually busy tending to the temple and its environs.

Mîr; the leader of the Yazidi is a hereditary Mîr or prince. He is the supreme ruler over the Yazidi. The family of the Mîr resides in Ba'adra, Shekhan district in northern Iraq.

The Yazidi New Year (Sersal) is called Carema Sere Sale / Çarşema Serê Nîsanê (Wednesday at the beginning of April) and it falls in Spring, on the first Wednesday on or after the 14th of April.

One of the most important Yazidi festivals is Îda Êzî. Which every year takes place on the first Friday on or after the 14th of December. Before this festival, the Yazidis fast for 3 days, where nothing is eaten from sunrise to sunset.

The greatest festival of the year is the Jamaya / Cemaiya, which includes an annual pilgrimage to Lalish. The festival is celebrated from 6 October to 13 October. It is an important time for cohesion.

If possible, Yazidis make at least one pilgrimage to Lalish during their lifetime, and those living in the region try to attend at least once a year for the Feast of the Assembly in Autumn.

Children are baptised at birth, the Yazidi baptism is called Mor kirin. Traditionally, Yazidi children are baptised at birth with water from the Kaniya Sipî ("White Spring") at Lalish valley if that is possible.

Seventy-four genocides against the Yazidis have been carried out during the past 1,200 years by Islamic radical groups. According to estimates, some 1.8M of Yazidis has had to convert, and some 1.2M Yazidis have been killed.

Numerous fatwas have legitimized their killing, looting, abduction and forced conversion to Islam and this persecution has on numerous occasions threatened the existence of Yazidis as a distinct group.

And the last one was in August 2014, when the Yazidis became victims of a genocide by the Islamic State in its campaign to eradicate non-Islamic influences and with the overall Islamization in the Middle East.

Historically, the Yazidis lived in communities in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria and also had significant numbers in Armenia and Georgia. However, events since the end of the 20th century have resulted in a considerable demographic shift in these areas as well as mass emigration.

As a result, population estimates are unclear in many regions, and estimates of the size of the total population vary.

From the early 1980s onward, many Yazidi migrations from the homelands to different European countries took place:
From Turkey in the 1980s
From Armenia and Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union
And from Iraq because of war in the 1980s, then now the Islamic State.

The majority of the Yazidi population lives in Iraq, where they make up an important minority community. Estimates of the size of these communities vary significantly, between 550,000 and 650,000.

They are particularly concentrated in northern Iraq in Nineveh Governorate. The two biggest communities are in Shekhan, northeast of Mosul and in Sinjar, at the Syrian border west of Mosul.

A Yazidi traditional clothes. White dress: Religious dignitaries are dressed in white, the colour of Yazidi religion, often used to convey a sense of purity.

Sources:
Photos and Videos are from Social media.
Here you can find more information
http://www.yezidisinternational.org/ 
http://www.yezidihumanrights.org/news.php 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidism 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis 
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hVVsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PAPR8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.yazda.org/ 
https://www.freeyezidi.org/ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_Yazidis_by_ISIL
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