Yezidis. Yezidis Among Us: On Caste Life, Intermarriage, and Peacock Worship
The Yezidis are an ethno-confessional group that speaks the Kurdish dialect of Kurmanji and mainly lived in northern Iraq, in particular in the province of Mosul, as well as in southeastern Turkey. After the First World War, most of them migrated to Armenia, then to Georgia and Russia, as well as to European countries.
How is the celebration of the Yazidi wedding different from the weddings of other nations?
It is a tradition to start Yezidi weddings at the groom's home early in the morning. Musicians are also invited there. The wedding ceremony is attended by invited relatives, good friends and neighbors. Around noon, the groom leaves for his future wife.
In the bride's house, a small table with refreshments is set right in the yard. The arrivals approach the table, say some solemn words regarding the wedding, drink and eat. Female guests bring gifts to the bride on trays. They are beautifully laid out, wrapped in a transparent material and tied with multi-colored ribbons. Tradition suggests that a Yezidi wedding cannot do without a red shawl as a gift for the bride. Also, the girl is given a wedding dress, in which she will be at the celebration.
The musicians amuse everyone with their melodies, and the bride's relatives also give the groom some gifts. Before the groom picks up the bride from the parental home, the Govand dance is performed at the Yazidi wedding. It is danced by future newlyweds.
The bride's parents also demonstrate to all those present all the gifts that the girl received from the groom's relatives. They thank for the gifts, give the groom a ring from themselves (his groom will dress the bride at the wedding ceremony). A little later, the bride's parents show everyone her dowry, the groom's friends take the dowry to his house. The dowry should include everything necessary for the life of the new family. The main thing in it: blankets, mattresses, pillows and bed linen.
Before the meal, the bride puts on the shawl that she has and the shawl that her future husband presented to her. She wears them throughout the wedding ceremony. Guests dine in the bride's house for no more than three hours. Then the guests observe two more rites. One, when the bride's brother ties and unties the ribbon around the girl's waist three times. The second is the ransom of the bride's pillow from her relatives. After passing the "tests", the young people leave the bride's house. They go to the groom's house.
In front of the house, the boy's mother showers the young with sweets. The groom stands on an elevated place and puts an apple on the head of his beloved. The apple symbolizes fertility and reproduction.
Also on the shoulders of the newlyweds put a symbol of wealth - pita bread. In front of the threshold, the bride and groom simultaneously kick the plate to break it. If the groom breaks the plate, then the first child will be a boy, if the bride, then a girl. Fragments of the plate are collected by friends of the newlyweds.
When Yezidi weddings take place, the music is constantly on the move. At the wedding feast, women sit separately from men. For the proper conduct of the wedding ceremony, a toastmaster is appointed.
Video of a Yezidi wedding
At her wedding in the Armenian village of Mushakan, 15-year-old Sona Amoyan stands barefoot on the cold floor for half an hour as wedding guests walk past her.
Scenes from the wedding of Omar and Sona Amoyan.
The traditions of the Yezidi community dictate that she cannot talk, sit or eat in the presence of relatives from the groom's side.
Sona met her fiancé, 16-year-old Omar, at a wedding.
After marriage, she will stop going to school and move to live with his family.
“It is embarrassing for a married woman to go to school,” Sona's mother explained. "Besides, what young man would want his wife to go to school?"
Sona's story is common among young Yazidi women in Armenia, who typically drop out of school at the age of 14 in order to prepare for marriage. The boys study a little longer and leave school to become shepherds. This is a traditional occupation of the Yezidis in Armenia.
Activists warn that these practices risk marginalizing another generation of Yazidi women, but traditionalists say the marriage of young girls is an ancient tradition.
“This is the generally accepted law, so everything will continue. If the girl is mature, then I am for her to be married off at the age of 16,” said Aziz Tamoyan, chairman of the National Union of Yezidis.
Even if mothers are unhappy that their daughters repeat their fate, they say that they are not able to resist tradition.
According to 38-year-old Lilia Avdoyan, who attended the wedding, she dreamed of becoming a doctor. However, when she was 16, her grandfather forced her to leave school and get married. Now the same fate awaits her 14-year-old daughter.
“My husband made our daughter drop out of school and I was powerless here,” she said. “Children often complain that they have to leave and live with another family. They are still too young and everything falls on their shoulders,” she continued.
“Armenian school teachers often try to convince the parents of Yezidi children to change their minds and not force their children to drop out of school, or at least postpone it for a while. However, parents always have memorized answers ready, such as: “my child is sick” or “he does not do well in school and does not want to study,” Avdoyan added.
The Yezidis are a tight-knit community that professes a one-of-a-kind religion and speaks one of the dialects of the Kurdish language. In Armenia they are a growing community with families with 8-10 children.
According to the 2001 census, there are about 40,000 Yezidis living in Armenia, which is a little over 1% of the total population of Armenia, however, according to Tamoyan, their number has reached 60,000.
At the wedding, Sona stands and waits for the guests to look at her dowry. Omar will be able to enter the room only after that. Before leaving to celebrate with other men, he puts a ring on her finger. However, he manages to forbid the women gathered around his new wife not to do her makeup.
“Without the permission of her husband, a woman cannot use cosmetics or shop,” Avdoyan said. "She can't make a toast, talk in front of her father-in-law, study or work."
The example of 23-year-old Inessa is proof that not all Yezidi parents adhere to traditional views.
She has a university degree and said her mother and father supported her desire to get an education. She said that she advised others to at least finish school, but added that it was impossible to change the views of families that adhere to old traditions.
Seizing the moment when Omar's relatives left the room, Sona briefly sat down to rest. Then she will go to her husband's house in the village of Mkhchyan.
As they drive away, Omar looks out the window of the limousine, yelling to the bride's neighbors, "We're taking the girl off your street!".
In Mkhchyan, before entering his house, Omar goes up to the roof and tries to hit his wife in the head with a red apple, but misses. The ritual is designed to ensure that life together is happy, and the wife is submissive.
One of those present, Arif, said that after his wedding, he threw the apple so hard that his 14-year-old wife fainted and her nose bled.
“They gave her water, but she came to her senses only after 15-20 minutes,” he recalled. “Why should I feel guilty? Law is law. You have to hit the apple in the head. This is our custom. Even now, when, for example, my wife does not listen to me, or when I ask for a glass of water, and she hesitates, I beat her,” he continued.
Arif, 33, will become a grandfather next year.
Anush Poghosyan, who works at the Women's Resource Center in Yerevan, said that early marriage is a "vice" in the Yezidi community, but it's very difficult to do anything about it. She does not remember Yezidi women ever turning to them for help.
“Marriage between teenagers is a violation of a number of rights,” she explained. "In particular, the right to control one's own body, since very often in adolescence girls are not physically or psychologically ready for sexual relations."
"Marriage during adolescence also leads to a violation of the right to free choice," she continued. “A teenager cannot make an informed decision, and very often parents do not consider the opinion of their children and force them to marry.”
Ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan, who studies Yazidi history, said changes in Yazidi customs are unlikely.
“The Yezidis are a fundamentally closed society,” she said. “Their traditions are the most important symbol for the preservation of their ethnicity, which is ancient and changes very slowly. But elements of prestige, such as the fact that the bride is picked up from the wedding in a limousine, have become part of their customs and coexist along with the old traditions without changing them.
After arriving at her new home, Sona stands in the center of the living room and waits for the next part of the ceremony, during which her mother-in-law will present her with a golden piece of jewelry.
Only then will she finally be able to sit down.
Lusine Avakyan is a freelance journalist.
Today's post is about the Yezidis and their harsh customs. The Yezidis are the most vulnerable part of the Iraqi population as they try to lead an autonomous life. Local authorities do not pay attention to them, the US military is also not interested in them, but they are interesting to Muslims who consider them to be devil worshipers.
A bit of history:
The approximate number of Yezidis in the world is estimated from 700 thousand to 1.5-2 million people, most of whom live in northern Iraq. In Russia, Yezidi communities are officially registered in Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod, the Samara region, Surgut, Tula, the Ulyanovsk region and Yaroslavl. Since 1996, the Yaroslavl regional public organization "Yazidis" has been operating. According to the 2002 census, 31.3 thousand Yezidis live in Russia.
Due to persecution, the religion of the Yezidis is closed and poorly understood. Their doctrine was finally formed by the XIV-XV centuries, having absorbed elements of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Manichaeism. Taus Malak - The supreme angel Malak Tavus (Melik-Tavus (= King-Peacock), Malaki-Taus, Ezazil or Azazel), depicted in the form of a peacock, is a symbol of Yezidism. He was created by the Almighty as the first of the seven Archangels, and then placed at the head of the rest of the Archangels.
Muslims and Christians consider the Yezidis to be "devil worshipers" based solely on their reverence for Malaki Taus. Here is what the Yezidis themselves think about this:
"Such a statement is the fruit of a deep delusion that has nothing to do with the ideas of the Yezidis themselves about this Archangel. Yezidism, as a religion, rejects any evil from the Almighty. In Yezidism, there are no evil spirits and fallen angels who rule over sinful souls in hell. that good and evil are one whole, which comes from the Almighty to every person."
The Yezidis believe that at the end of time God will make peace with the fallen angel, and until then, the Yezidis are forbidden to refer to the fallen angel under different names. With their peculiar worldview, the Yezidis incurred the hatred of the surrounding peoples, despite their loyalty to all religions.
01. About 10% of the population of Kurdistan are followers of Yezidism - a unique, traditionally Kurdish religion. Lalish is the shrine of the Yazidi Kurds. This place is equivalent to the Vatican for Catholics or Mecca for Muslims. Moreover, the Yezidis simply do not have other temples and every member of the Yezidi community, scattered around the world, is obliged to make a pilgrimage to Lalish at least once in his life. 
02. On October 6, the week of the Yazidis pilgrimage - Jamai begins. Each Yezidi, as far as possible, is going on a journey to bow to the holy places and be sanctified in the waters of Kaniya Spi. Whoever visits Lalysh and makes a pilgrimage is given a barat (lit. "letter, gift" - balls made by nuns (fakraya) from the silt of this spring) as a sign of consecration. 
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04. Entrance to the temple. You cannot walk in shoes on the territory. Before entering, the Yezidis kiss the threshold. 
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07. In the temple, you can make a wish and tie a knot. 
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10. There are different rooms for male and female desires and knots. 
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12. In Lalesh there is also an entrance to the Zem-Zem cave, where the "White Spring" sacred to the Yezidis - "Kanya Spi" is located. 
13. Another tradition - Yezidis throw a handkerchief on a stone with their eyes closed, it is necessary that after three attempts the handkerchief hits the stone and does not fall off it, then the wish will come true. 
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15. And here are the Yezidi beauties. 
16. The cult of the peacock is felt in clothes. 
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20. Yezidis are traditionally divided into endogamous castes. Conversion to Yezidism is impossible, because there is no place for the convert in the caste system. It should also be mentioned that Yezidis are those who are born from both parents (from mother and father) professing Yezidism, children from mixed marriages are not considered Yezidis, that is, Yezidism is not inherited by them. 
21. Religious prohibitions: food (fish, rooster meat, gazelles, pumpkin, cabbage, lettuce), household (on blue clothes, considered mourning; on washing in a bath for fear of water pollution; on pronouncing the word "shaitan" and those close to it according to the sound of words, etc.) - are now rarely observed. 
22. According to Yezidi religious sources, during the course of 12 centuries, 72 times, periodically, a massacre was committed - genocide by neighboring Islamic peoples, with the aim of completely destroying their faith and culture. The apogee of Islamic fanaticism reached in 1915, when the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against non-Muslim peoples (Armenians, Assyrians, Yezidis, Greeks) living on its territory. 
23. Se harf are considered the three most terrible sins among the Yezidis:
- You can not marry or have extramarital affairs with representatives of other castes.
- A Yezidi does not have the right to marry a non-Christian and thus convert to a different faith.
- not a single Yezidi has the right to raise his hands against a representative of the spiritual caste.
Speaking about SE HARF, about the three deadly sins, it is interpreted in such a way that after death, a Yezidi who violated these three sins "in the next world" will never, for any good deeds, be forgiven. 
24. So, the biggest problem for the Iraqi Yezidis is the second point - marriages with non-Christians. Muslims, by the way, have a positive attitude if a man marries a Yazidi woman, they believe that he saves her. 
25. But, you can’t command your heart, and sometimes marriages between Muslims and Yezidis still happen. Even more often there are suspicions of Yezidi girls in relations with Muslims. In both cases, they are killed. Stories like this happen almost every month. I've already talked about the case... 
Dua Khalil Aswad, a 17-year-old resident of the Kurdish town of Bashika in northern Iraq, was stoned to death by her male relatives for daring to fall in love with a Sunni youth. The girl was sentenced to death by "righteous killing" by relatives and local religious leaders. She was accused of dishonoring herself and her family when she returned home late one evening. There were also rumors that Dua converted to Islam to get closer to her lover. It all ended with several men breaking into the house where Dua lived, dragging her out into the street and throwing stones at her for half an hour until the girl died. A large crowd watched the execution. Local law enforcement agencies saw what was happening, but did not intervene. The young man was more fortunate, he was not touched, since he was from an influential family. Here's a CNN story on this one. !!!DO NOT WATCH IT, IT SHOWS HOW THE GIRL IS KILLED!!!
26. Muslims reacted to this story in their own way - they killed 11 Yezidis in response, since the girl, after entering into a relationship with a Muslim, was already considered a Muslim. And such stories happen here quite often. 
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Yezidis are a people living mainly in the northern part of Iraq and speaking the Kurdish language. They have their own thousand-year history of origin and interesting historical traditions, including wedding ones.
Currently, Yezidi weddings are widespread in Russia, so they are no longer as exotic as they used to be. Let us consider in more detail how Yezidi weddings are held, and what traditions exist on them.
Yazidi wedding traditions
Before a Yezidi wedding, bridegrooms are always held, or in our opinion. In the old days, the bride for a young son was chosen by his parents, in particular his mother. The young man had no choice.
Currently, most young Yezidis prefer to choose their future wife on their own.
According to ancient Yezidi customs, 3-4 people from the groom’s side come to the bride’s parental home for the bride. At the same time, the groom himself does not come. 
The guests tell the hosts about the purpose of their visit, and they in turn let them into their house to talk. Parents who think their daughters are too early to marry should politely refuse guests.
Guests can inspect the intended bride by asking her to bring water to drink. At the same time, one of the guests drinks water very slowly in order to take a closer look at the girl, and she, in turn, is waiting for the glass to be returned to her hands.
If the guests liked the girl, then they discuss the date of their future visit with the owners of the house.
If, as a result of negotiations, the bride's parents agree to marry their daughter, the groom's parents present her with some valuable gift, for example, a gold ring. This indicates that the bride-to-be was successful and then you should begin to prepare for the day of the betrothal.
It is customary for Yezidi weddings to begin in the morning at the groom's house, where musicians are always invited.
These weddings are usually attended by the closest relatives and friends, as well as old neighbors. By lunchtime, the parents and guests from the groom's side go to the bride's house, where they are met at a festive table set in the middle of the courtyard. 
The groom's guests solemnly pronounce congratulatory words, then drink and eat food from the table, and then present gifts to the bride on special circle-shaped trays (sani), which are carefully prepared and decorated in advance of this moment.
Present
As gifts are: necessarily a beautiful wedding dress to match the bride and a red shawl, as well as a variety of sweets, alcohol and more. There must be at least 5 such trays with gifts.
According to tradition, the bride can cross the threshold of her parents' house, when all the guests, both adults and children, dance a cheerful, incendiary govand dance.
After the dance, everyone immediately enters the house, where a general display of gifts is held with words of thanks. Then the bride's relatives give her future husband a golden ring. The bride will wear this ring to him during the betrothal. 
After the groom accepts the gift, the bride's relatives begin to show the guests her dowry, which is then delivered to the groom's house by the groom's relatives.
- firstly, it is necessary to knit two shawls together, one that the bride already had, and the second, which was presented to her by the guests from the groom's side. The bride must remain in these tied shawls during the entire subsequent ceremony.
- secondly, the bride's brother (if any) must be wound around the sister's waist and then untie the ribbon three times. Each of the three knots symbolizes something: the first knot is a good intention, the second knot is a good intention, the third knot is a good deed.
If the groom copes with this task, then his chosen one is released from his home, while it is customary for the bride's relatives to hit the groom with a redeemed pillow on the top of the head several times, saying parting words, such as: "Be together until old age." 
Then the whole noisy company, led by the bride, goes to the groom's house.
At the same time, their trip is accompanied by a cheerful national melody.
Before entering the house, the mother of the groom showers the young with sweets and cookies.
And then her son stands on the steps or another elevation and puts an apple on the top of his head to his chosen one, symbolizing fertility and parting words for reproduction.
Next, the shoulders of the newlyweds are decorated with pita bread, which denote a rich life in a new family. Another rite is the joint breaking of the plate by the young. They do it at the same time by kicking her. 
Moreover, if the plate is broken from the kick of the groom, a boy will be born first in the new family, if vice versa, then a girl. After that, young people need to carefully collect all the fragments left from the broken plate.
According to tradition, before the wedding celebration, young boys and girls decorate the tree with fruits, sweets and banknotes.
On the day of the Yezidi wedding, the groom shakes this tree over the young as a symbol of a happy married life.
All ceremonies on the day of the Yezidi wedding should be accompanied by cheerful groovy music of a national character. At the festive table, women are separated from men.
Thus, Yezidi weddings have their own flavor and their own historical traditions. And in order for them to be properly observed, they are invited to the wedding celebration with experience in Yezidi weddings.
Yezidi is a nationality whose historical homeland is Mesopotamia. They are direct descendants of the ancient Babylonians. The religion itself is called "Yazidism" and is a kind of echo of the state religion, which has its roots in bygone millennia. According to another version, the emergence of this faith is associated with a mixture of pre-Islamic beliefs and Sufi teachings with Christian Gnostic views.
Who are the Yezidis
The nationality of the Yezidis is mainly distributed in the territories of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, but people of this religion also live in Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and some European countries.
The latest numbers indicate the presence of 0.3-0.5 million Yezidis. There is a generally accepted view that they are a separate group of Kurds. But each Yezidi considers the nationality of his people unique, categorically denying kinship with the Kurds. Now at the international level they are recognized as representatives of a separate ethno-confessional group. A significant role in this was played by the efforts of the orientalists of Armenia, for whom this discovery served as one of the important factors in maintaining national security. The reason for this is the removal from Armenia of a serious threat to have a reputation as a country with a “Kurdish factor”.
But still, many researchers insist on a connection by nationality "Kurd - Yezidi". For example, N. Ya. Marr believes that Yezidism is a Kurdish religion, which was practiced by most of the Kurds before they converted to Islam.
Nationality "Yezid": roots
The origin of the name of this people is also a controversial issue. According to the first version, the word "Yazid" has Persian roots and means "god" in translation. The second version says that the name of the people comes from the names of the geniuses of goodness and light, one of the main characters of the Zoroastrian teachings. Adherents of the third version claim that it came from the name of Caliph Yazid, who was the son of Caliph Moavia. But, as you know, consonance does not always mean the relationship of concepts, so the latest version has many opponents. There are other reasons why the Yezidis themselves do not want to believe in the connection of their nationality with the name of the bloodthirsty murderer Caliph Yazid.
One thing is clear: this nationality is one of the most ancient. This people is doing everything possible to preserve their identity, language, rituals, traditions and holidays. Yezidis - nationality (photo below) is very close-knit and cheerful.
Lalish - the main shrine of the Yezidis
Most of the shrines are located on the territory of Northern Iraq. The largest is Lalesha Nurani. In the people it is called bright or sacred Lalesh. It is the duty of every Yezidi to make a pilgrimage to this place at least once in his life. If we draw parallels, then we can say that the significance of Lalesh is commensurate with the significance of Jerusalem for Christians, Mecca for Muslims or Mount Fuji for Shintoists. Lalesh is the location of the tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Muzaffar, who is considered the founder and reformer of this religion.
Feast of Aida Ezid
The main holiday of this people falls in mid-December. It is called "Aida Ezida". It is considered the day of reconciliation. Celebrated on the second Friday of December. The last three days before the holiday are the time of the strictest fast. Until the sun sets, it is forbidden to eat, drink anything, smoke. Thursday evening, confessors and laity spend at the clergy, singing religious hymns and dancing. Friday is the day of visiting fellow nationals who have recently lost someone close to them. A week after "Aida Ezid" comes another important holiday - "Aida Shams", considered the day of the Sun. The ceremonial preparation for it is practically the same.
Holiday "Khidyr Nabi"
Khidir Nabi is a holiday that all Yazidis revere. Nationality, faith, way of thinking - all this, according to this people, should be the main choice of every person. And Khidir Nabi is the name of a patron angel who helps fulfill righteous desires in case of the right choice. Nabi is the patron saint of lovers, reunites the halves of one whole. On a holiday, every young guy and every girl should eat salty cakes in order to see their fate in a dream. For experts, some similarity with the feast of St. Sargis, which exists among the Armenians, is obvious.
New Year
Like many ancient peoples, the Yezidis keep their calendar not from winter, but from spring, or rather, from April. New Year coincides with a national holiday celebrated on the first Wednesday of the month. The history of its origin is connected with the name of Malak-Tavus - the servant of God, who directly fulfills the will of the Supreme Almighty. Malak-Tavusa is translated as King-Peacock. Under this name, Ezrael is revered among the Yezidis, as the highest among the seven angels created by the Almighty. He is considered a fallen angel. He is identified with Lucifer in Christianity and Shaitan in Islam. It was this belief that caused many neighboring peoples to have the impression of the Yezidis as "devil worshippers". Who knows... Nationality (the Yezidis, in any case, definitely do not include themselves in this category) can hardly be called such, because there are many friendly and good traditions in the religion itself. They themselves are sure that at the end of time there will be a reconciliation between God and the fallen angel. Because of this, it is strictly forbidden in the Yezidi religion to curse Satan. By the way, often representatives of other religions zealously criticize this faith for a holiday for women - this is the time to bake a big ritual cake (gata). Its shape is rounded, prepared from rich dough. Interestingly, beads are baked inside the ghats. The oldest woman in the family is in charge of the whole process. At the onset of the holiday, the main man of the family distributes gata to all relatives. Whoever receives a piece with beads will be lucky all year. Also, another belief is associated with April among this people: April is, as it were, the “bride” of all other months, so the Yezidis have a strict taboo on holding weddings in April; also, you can’t build a house, cultivate the land, change your place of residence.
Yezidis and Armenians
Yezidi is a nationality numbering tens of thousands of representatives in Armenia. The relationship of these peoples to each other has been formed since ancient times. They have always been friendly peoples. They are connected by similar fates, because both of them, in the struggle for their faith, were subjected to persecution and deprivation, which forced them to leave their historical homeland, fleeing their persecutors. Many Yezidis subsequently settled in the territory of Eastern Armenia.
Armenia is the only state where there are educational institutions that study the Yezidi language. There are about 23 of them. In the country, several publishing houses publish textbooks and fiction in the Yezidi language. There is a fund that promotes the development of Yezidi science and art.
Yezidi settlements were badly damaged during the devastating earthquake that occurred in Armenia in 1988. On the recommendation of the then Prime Minister of the USSR, who visited the disaster zone, many of them (about 5.5 thousand people) moved to the Krasnodar Territory.
Although it is sad to note, but we, according to the classic, are "lazy and incurious." And even today, they are far from being fully aware of such an ancient people as the Yezidis living side by side with us. Much of the information is inaccurate and vague. But one thing is certain. Yezidi is a nationality whose representatives managed to pass all the tests, while retaining their historical appearance and identity. BUT
Yazidi traditions
The Yezidis are characterized by a caste-theocratic structure of society. This means that they can only marry a member of the same caste. Marriages with people of other religions are completely prohibited.
Priests from generation to generation choose the same path of life. Moreover, representatives of other castes cannot become clergymen.
According to the Yezidis, they are the chosen people, and this is a hereditary factor, that is, it is passed on from older generations to younger ones.
There is practically no written evidence about the history of the formation and development of their faith. They, too, were almost never fully reflected on paper. They cherished their faith very much and believed that it was very difficult to keep written sacred texts from the hands of the Gentiles. And they can reveal the mysteries of their traditions and rituals. Historical facts about the people, canons of religion, texts of prayers - all this was passed from mouth to mouth for many centuries.
sacred texts
A few writings still exist. The religious teaching itself is expounded on the pages of two sacred books - Jilva and Mashafe Rash. The first is the "Book of Revelation", the second is the "Black Book". Their content is unlikely to be understood by a representative of another religion, because the books are written in the southern Kurdish dialect.
Due to the same fear of the Gentiles, the Yezidis included so many secret wisdoms in their writing that not a single stranger could make out their texts.
Prohibitions and regulations
The Yezidi creed forbids a lot to its followers. Only following all the prescriptions and prohibitions throughout life allows you to remain a true adherent of religion.
The most numerous are food prohibitions. There are also many taboos in appearance. You cannot, for example, wear blue clothes.
There are also prohibitions associated with the elements: fire, water and earth. Most likely, the roots of these prescriptions lie in the Zoroastrian teaching, which forbids defiling the aforementioned elements.
Opening of a new place of pilgrimage in Armenia
Recently, a very important event for the Yezidis took place in Armenia, which brought together a large number of pilgrims from different countries. They opened a new place of pilgrimage near Aknalich village in Armavir region. It was this event that caused September 29 (opening day), according to the order of the National Council of the Yezidis of the whole world, to be celebrated by these people as the Day of the Yezidis Pilgrimage. The temple got its name, consonant with the main sanctuary of the Yezidis, which is located in Northern Iraq, Lalesh.
The purpose of the delegation was also to visit the memorial of the victims at Tsitsernakaberd, where in 1915-1918. more than 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated, among whom there were quite a few representatives of the Yezidi nationality.
What is a nation without a sanctuary in its native land. The new temple is the first place of worship for the Yezidis outside of Kurdistan. It can accommodate 30 people and is shaped like a Yazidi cone-shaped sanctuary. The material for the construction was brick, and the top of the building was lined with marble. Nearby is a refectory that can accommodate 2,000 people.
One of the most significant recent events in the Yezidi community was the conference of the world's Yezidis on June 30, 2008 in Yerevan, which was attended by believers from all over the world. It was there that a call was made for 2 million Yazidis from all over the world to unite in order to preserve and pass on to the descendants of history, religion, traditions, and art. “All the Yezidis of the world, join us - hola, hola, hola, hola Sultan Yezide sora!” This is the creed and the main goal of the Yezidis.
This ethnic group survived not only due to the fact that most of the representatives occupied hard-to-reach territories in mountainous areas. For centuries, the Yezidis held the line and defended themselves from numerous conquerors, which made it possible to preserve the religion of their ancestors to this day.
Summing up, it should be said that Yezidism is a faith, Yezidi is a nationality. Muslims are not a nationality, but a commitment to religion (Islam), so the identification of these concepts is not correct.
