Mesopotamian news mardukite babylon a brave new world. The yazidis perceptions of reconciliation and conflict yazidis are one of the oldest ethnic and religious communities indigenous to the middle east. Other content include illustrations, photos, maps, notes, a glossary, a bibliography and appendices filled with invaluable information like yezidi saints and genealogies of influential families. The first half of the book contains some of their creation mythology and other stories. History of the yezidi 20 children of the sun youtube. Yezidi theology, oral tradition, rituals, and rites of passage. The two alleged yazidi holy books translated below are in fact forgeries, produced at an uncertain date by outsiders, incorporating genuine yazidi material but mixed in with outside elements.
The preeminent deity among the yezidi is melek tawus, the peacock angel. Today, over 3,000 yezidi women and girls remain in the caliphate where they are bought and sold, and passed between fighters as chattel. Yezidi mythology creation, floods, and a large black snake. This book gives a comprehensive introduction to yezidi society, and examines yezidism not only as a religion but also as a social and historical phenomenon. Yezidi religion, yezidi, yeziden, ezdi, ezidi, yezidism,lalish, shingal, shexan, kurd, kurdish, kurdistan, history, armenia, russia, mezopotamia, zorastrianizm. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by nonyazidis in the 19th century and then were passed off as ancient manuscripts but that their contents do in fact reflect authentic yazidi oral tradition. Idries shah, writing under the penname arkon daraul, in the 1961 book secret societies yesterday and today, describes discovering a yazidiinfluenced secret society in the london suburbs called the order of the peacock angel. In the first, the compiler indicates the source of his information and gives a sketch of the life of sei. The majority of yazidis live in the northwest of iraq, in areas surrounding shingal7 mountain and shekhan district. Yazidi, member of a kurdish religious minority found primarily in northern iraq. Since the fall of 2014, the atrocities of isis islamic state of iraq and syria committed in iraq and syria came into light, the world learned that thousands of innocent yezidis were slaughtered.
However, through the study of their traditions and references in nonyezidi texts it is possible to build up something approaching a. They also claim to be the worlds oldest religion, and have over 40,000 years of history. The yazidi holy books are claimed to be the kiteba cilwe book of revelation and the mishefa res black book. The book of revelation and black book remain, however, the most prominent texts associated with the socalled devil worshipers of mesopotamia. As a disclaimer let me say that this is by no means allencompassing. Jan 01, 2010 which makes this book great because it discusses their origins, history, religious observances, societal structure and material culture. According to written history, there has been 74 genocides due to intolerance and different political agendas. Yazidism is rooted in the ancient native iranian and mesop. When adam was made, god told the archangels to bow to him, but melek tawus refused. History, facts and traditions of iraqs persecuted minority.
Surrounded by people of the book, yazidis have felt the pressure in the past to have a written scripture, and rumors have abounded for centuries of a yazidi holy text, referred to as cilwe, revelation, or mes. With the arrival of a larger number of european and american travelers in the region in the. This has been compiled into what is known as the black book. Shah claimed tawuse melek could be understood, from the sufi viewpoint, as an allegory of the higher powers in humanity. The yazidi holy books were said to be the kiteba cilwe book of revelation and the mishefa res black book. The yazidi holy books are written in the kurmanji dialect of the kurdish language. This book presents itself as a scholarly account of the saga and religious culture of the yezidi faithful. The book also has many notes, a extensive bibliography for further study, and a reproduction of the original arabic manuscript witten in the 1800s. Nprs lulu garcianavarro asks cathy otten about with ash on their faces. The yazidis, isolated in a remote iraq region, are misunderstood and persecuted by their neighbours. History of the yezidi the ultimate history project.
Jan 02, 2020 although yazidi theology is based on oral tradition, passed on through hymns, they do have two holy books. Birgul acikyildiz here offers a comprehensive appraisal of yezidi religion, society and culture. The manuscript comprises a brief introduction, the sacred books, and an appendix. Kitab al jilwah, the book of illumination meshaf res, the black book of creation hymns commentary these texts, while in public domain and available in other formats, are now all collected in print in a straightforward and untainted format for the first time. The manuscripts of both books were published in 1911 and 19 were forgeries written by nonyezidis in response to western travelers and scholars interest in the yazidi religion. Otten bases her book on interviews with these survivors, as well as those who smuggled them to safety, painstakingly piecing together their accounts of enslavement. The yazidi black book is one of two books written in the style of a holy book of the yazidis in northern kurdish, the other being the yazidi book of revelation. So far there are two parts roughly translated the revelation and the black book. Jun 03, 2017 this specific work covers the black book of the yezidis meshaf resh. Written without presupposing any prior knowledge about yezidism, and in an accessible and readable style, her book examines yezidis not only from a religious point of view but as a historical and social phenomenon.
However, the black book contains more of the creation and history stories of yezidism. The origin of the devilworshippers has been the subject of much controversy. Aug 29, 2014 posts about yezidi black book written by nexg3n. Also called yezidi, daasin, or ezidi, the yazidi are a kurdishspeaking ethnoreligious community based in northern iraq who practice a syncretic religion influenced by preislamic assyrian traditions, sufi and shiite islam, nestorian christianity, and zoroastrianism.
However, through the study of their traditions and references in non yezidi texts it is possible to build up something approaching a. Then follows a story about adam and eve, their temptation and quarrel. Yezidis believe the black book originated when the lord descended. The color red is emphasized during the yezidi new year festival with women decorating both their houses and family graves with red flowers. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by nonyazidis. The original text of the yazidi black book is kept in the village of qasr tzz atdin. Kitab aljilwah yazidi religious literature britannica. Their rich oral tradition is their primary way of passing on their beliefs. The yezidis, who originally migrated to iraq from india, are currently the caretakers of the oldest religious tradition on earth.
Dec 22, 2017 the yezidi psychologist jan kizilhan told me the ruling didnt go far enough, since it only applied to women who were forced to convert and raped by isis, without allowing yezidis in general to. What are the beliefs and history of the yezidi religion. If the book is in tigris, it is unknown if the original black book is simply a kurdish translation of the english and arabic black books, or if it is a different text entirely. There are very little resource devoted to the kurdish yezidi peoples much less their sacred scriptures so this book is a must read for those interested.
Isis has targeted the yezidi population of approximately 230,000 people in the area, considered kafir or nonbelievers because they do not practice islam, in what is widely considered. The yazidi pray to the peacock angel several times a day, facing east. Executive summary this report focuses on the yazidi community, one of the largest minority groups in iraq, and their perceptions on conflicts and future reconciliation following the islamic states is invasion in 2014. The yezidi have a strong ethical code and customs like those of many other agricultural tribal people, as is apparent from the ethnological sketch which rounds out this book. The yezidis have a distinctive religious system, the origins of which remain unclear. After that he created a ship in which he rode thirty thousand years. Lovecraft have painted the yezidi as sinister worshippers of the evil one. However, in the case of the extremist islamic state, it. Some yazidis also live in armenia, turkey, iran, georgia, and syria. Yezidi women dye eggs in bright primary colors to celebrate the spring new year festival just as many eastern christians do for the spring feast of pascha easter. Yezidi women and the islamic state, her book about the history and personal stories of the religious minority. Throughout their history the yezidis have been subject to persecution by their muslim and christian neighbors. His tomb near mosul in northern iraq is the most important site of pilgrimage in the yezidi religion.
The history of a community, culture and religion library of. It will also help us to better understand the horrific events going on in the middle east at this very moment. Since then it has garnered much critical attention by ethnologists and theologians, receiving condemnation in some quarters as a fake, and in others a nod of approval as being possibly the only legitimate text along with the book of the revelation that gives some insight into these remarkable people and their beliefs. It is primarily from the black book that we will explore some of the mythology.
The yezidi or yazidi1 is a people that claim to be the result of a mix between adam and a goddess, whereas humans are mix between adam and eve. The black book of the yezidis was first published in english over 120 years ago. The black books story of creation is similar in that it involves the first male and first female, named adam and eve in the. The black book is not divided into chapters and is longer than the book of revelation. Then the lord descended to the holy land and commanded gabriel to take earth from the four corners of the world. Firts of all, you have to understand that yazidism is to certain extent an obscure religion because yazidis are quite secretive. The yezidis have two sacred books, the kitab aljilwa, the book of revelation, written by sheikh adi, and the mishefa res, the black book, which is said by scholars to have been written in the 11th12th centuries but, claim the yezidis, has existed since tawsi melek, the peacock angel, first set foot upon earth. Nov 19, 2017 nprs lulu garcianavarro asks cathy otten about with ash on their faces. He made it man, and endowed it with a soul by his power. Some yezidi mythology has been translated into english and other languages.
Musafir from the land of syria, and he shall come and dwell in lalesh. Yazidism is the religion of a kurdish peoplegroup that lives primarily in iraq. The book has a informative introduction detailing the history and of the meshaf resh and some background on the yezidis. Licensed to youtube by adrev for a 3rd party on behalf of atmosphere. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by. The history of a community, culture and religion library of modern. The muslims do not regard the yezidis as a people of the book, and some have even considered them to be a heretic muslim sect. Scholars have discerned elements resembling those of the manichaean, zoroastrian, mandaean gnostic, jewish, christian especially nestorian, and muslim especially sufi traditions, but there is no evidence that the yezidi religion represents an offshoot of any one of them. Vian dakhil, a yezidi parliament member, collapses in tears as she begs the iraqi government to intervene in the genocide against the yezidis. Yezidi reverence for snakes and birds may also represent the remnants of much earlier religious beliefs. Aug 11, 2014 yezidi yazidi, an unbroken unique gene of middle eastern people extending directly back to ancient presemitic sumerian mardukites, practicing a tradition of modern zoroastrian yazdanism derived from the monoltry monotheism to marduk of babylon observed as melek taus or shaitan shaytan, have been threatened with genocide in iraq by the islamic state isisis. The text first states that the supreme god first created a pearl containing the substance or substratum of the soontobe physical universe, ostensibly referring to the. Black book in kurdish, both written in the kurdish kurmanji dialect.
Before the roles of the sexes were determined, adam and eve quarreled about which of them provided the creative element in the begetting of children. Yezidis believe the black book originated when the lord descended black mountain. The yazidi book of revelation is one of two books on the yazidi religion written in the style of a holy book in the kurmanji dialect of the kurdish language, the other being the yazidi black book mishefa res. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by nonyazidis in the 19th century and then were passed off as ancient manuscripts but that their contents do. The tale of the yazidis origin found in the black book gives them a distinctive ancestry and expresses their feeling of difference from other races. Yezidi musicians led a procession of worshipers toward a newly rebuilt temple on a hillside in northern iraq. Christmas message from yezidi girl enslaved by isis.
Yezidism did not have liturgical or historical writing before 12th. Yezidi yazidi, an unbroken unique gene of middle eastern people extending directly back to ancient presemitic sumerian mardukites, practicing a tradition of modern zoroastrian yazdanism derived from the monoltry monotheism to marduk of babylon observed as melek taus or shaitan shaytan, have been threatened with genocide in iraq by the. The sacred books comprise kitab aljilwah book of revelation, and maaf res. Since april, 2007, when 23 of them were murdered by iraqi moslems, the yezidis have been in crisis. On august 14th 2007, moslem suicide bombers claimed over 500 innocent yezidi lives in their northern iraq homeland. Jul 30, 2010 the yezidi are a kurdishspeaking people that mostly live in northern iraq. The yezidi believe god created melek tawus, who was the first of seven archangels that he made before adam. This specific work covers the black book of the yezidis meshaf resh. More recently the yezidi religious authorities have given permission for their people living abroad to write down and even to translate some of the stories and poetry of their people. The yezidi are a kurdishspeaking people that mostly live in northern iraq.
It is primarily from the black book that we will explore. Who are the yazidi people, and what are their beliefs. Mar, 2010 the yezidi or yazidi 1 is a people that claim to be the result of a mix between adam and a goddess, whereas humans are mix between adam and eve. This book focusses mainly on the culture and history of yezidis. Dec 20, 2015 isis has targeted the yezidi population of approximately 230,000 people in the area, considered kafir or nonbelievers because they do not practice islam, in what is widely considered. It is now generally accepted that the manuscripts of the yazidi sacred books, the mas.
Two short books, kitab aljilwah book of revelation and maafrash black book, form the sacred scriptures of the yazidis. The majority of yazidis remaining in the middle east today live in iraq, primarily in the nineveh and dohuk governorates. But many scholars now believe the manuscripts published a century ago were. Oct 16, 2014 this book presents itself as a scholarly account of the saga and religious culture of the yezidi faithful. Middle eastern gods often appeared in the guise of these animals or as a combination of these animals and humans. The yazidi religious centre and object of the annual pilgrimage is the tomb of sheikh.
However, the presence of a textual black book and book of revelation alone may be enough to alter the yazidi religion to become more consistent and coherent across. The revelation mainly consists of god speaking to the yezidi about who he is and who they are in relation to him. But these overlaps are largely superficialmuslims dont consider yazidis to be a people of the book, or one of the abrahamic religions of christianity. The book covers the history, beliefs, practices, and material culture of the yezidis. A yezidi woman on the sin jar mountain range, near the iraqsyria border. Yazidis on the mountain of regions with significant populations iraq 650,000, germany armenia 35,272, georgia denmark 500, yazidi book of revelation yazidi black book the yazidis also yazidi, ezidi, yazdani community whose syncretic but ancient religion yazidism a kind of zoroastrianism and ancient mesop.