Eszter Spät
„The Renaissance of Yezidi Seers in Northern Iraq”
Budapest – Bochum
Yezidis - basic information
A Kurdish-speaking religious minority
There are approx. 0.5 million Yezidis: Northern Iraq, Turkey (only a few hundreds left, fled the
PKK – Turkish state civil war), Syria, Armenia, Georgia. Western diaspora (most of them in
Germany.)
Yezidis in Northern Iraq:
Majority of Yezidis live here; place of religious leaders, most sacred shrines
Two distinct communities: Sinjar community (in and around Sinjar Mountain on Syrian-Iraqi
border); Welat (“homeland”) community - Yezidis living in the Kurdish Region, east of the
Tigris. (Kurdish Region of Iraq, officially a federal state inside Iraq, functions as a quasiindependent state since 1991, has its own government, parliament, army.)
Sacred valley of Yezidis, Lalish with the Main Sanctuary of Sheikh Adi is in the Kurdish
Region, east of Mosul, in the Kurdish foothills.
Origins:
Traditional Yezidis: oldest religion (and nation - millet) on earth, comes from the miraculously
conceived son of Adam, Shehid (created from divine power/sur hidden in Adam)
Traditional Muslims (and ISIS): heretics, deviated from Islam; kafirs, (devilworshippers)
Modern Kurdish nationalists: original Kurdish religion (sometimes equated with Zoroastrianism)
Modern Yezidis: oldest religion, original Kurdish religion, Yezidis equated with ancient
Mesopotamian people (Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians) as well as with Iranian
peoples/religions (Zoroastrians, “Mithraism”)
Modern scholarship: Traced to a 12th c. Sufi order, founded by Sheikh Adi bin Musafir, an
orthodox Sufi from Syria. Eventually the order incorporated so many pre-Islamic elements that it
lost its Islamic character and became an independent religion. At the core of Yezidi mythology, as
known today, we find concepts dating back to (pre-Zoroastrian) Western Iranian mythology,
intertwined with motifs from Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity.
However, Yezidism also displays an indisputable influence of Islam, especially of Sufism, in its
mythology, socio-religious structure, ritual life and the language of sacred hymns.
Religion
Mythology
Ultimately monotheistic, God is the source of all life and creation. World created from a cosmic
Pearl. God becomes Deus otiosus after creation, world run by angels. Seven Great Angels –
emanation of Godhead, from the light or sur (mystery, essence) of God. Angels became
incarnated in human form as leaders, holy personages among Yezidis (xas).
Orality
Yezidi sacred texts (hymns, myths in prose form) were traditionally transmitted orally. Writing
them down was traditionally banned. (Writing down started in 1970s’s and is now continuing.
Schoolbooks on religion used at schools.)
Qewwals – “singers of hymns” (qewl – hymn, from Ar.), a special group entrusted with learning,
performing and transmitting sacred texts. Only the son of qewwal can become a qewwal. Lived
in the villages of Beshiqe – Behzani (near Mosul), traveled around from there.
Members of priestly castes (sheikh, pîr) and feqir class may also know hymns (depending on
their inclination.)
Learning sacred texts not forbidden to “laymen”, but rare, not an expectation. Most laymen knew
(know) little about religion. Orthopraxy instead of orthodoxy, deeds more important than formal
religious knowledge. Keeping taboos, caste system, celebrating holidays, visiting holy places
(ziyaret).
Caste system
Most pervasive element of orthopraxy
Three endogamous castes:
Priestly castes: sheikhs (3 endogamous lineages), pîrs (originally 40 lineages), position of
religious leaders inherited within families
Laymen: murids
Cutting across castes: qewwals (born into), feqirs (born into), seers/kocheks (may be inherited in
family, but is a personal gift)