The Yazidi people

Origins

The Yazidis are a Kurmanji-speaking people whose religion took shape in Mesopotamia. Medieval sources record their presence in what is now northern Iraq and in south-eastern Anatolia. In the 12th century, the movement associated with Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (Şêx Adî), centred on the sanctuary of Lalish, gave the community a lasting structure.

The persecutions at the end of the Ottoman Empire, between 1915 and 1918, drove some of the Yazidis to the Caucasus, mainly to Armenia and Georgia. Most Yazidi families in France today come from there. The Sinjar genocide of 2014 caused a new exile from Iraq.

Many Yazidis see themselves as a people in their own right, others as Kurds of the Yazidi faith. The association respects both views.

Religion

The Yazidi religion is monotheistic. God (Xwedê) created the world and entrusted it to seven angels, the first of whom is Tawûsê Melek, the Peacock Angel. Hostile writers equated him with a figure of evil; this confusion lies at the root of persistent prejudice and of persecution.

The tradition is above all oral. It is handed down through sacred hymns (qewl), songs (stran) and prayers. One is born Yazidi: the religion does not seek converts. Society is organised into three hereditary groups: şêx, pîr and mirîd.

The sun is an important symbol. Its 21-ray depiction, visible at Lalish, is a sign of Yazidi identity with no political meaning.

Since 2019, the spiritual and temporal head of the community (mîr) has been Mîr Hazim Tahsin Beg.

Language

The great majority of Yazidis speak Kurmanji (kurmancî); a minority speak Arabic, around Bashiqa and Bahzani in Iraq. Kurmanji is mostly written in the Latin alphabet; in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the Arabic script is still common. In the Soviet Union it was written first in the Latin alphabet and, after the war, in Cyrillic: the newspaper Riya Teze, founded in Yerevan in 1930 in Latin script, was closed in the late 1930s and reappeared in Cyrillic from 1955.

The Yazidis also have a script of their own, added to the Unicode Standard in 2020.

In France, many families from the former USSR speak Russian in everyday life and Kurmanji at home. That is why this site is published in French, Russian, Kurmanji and English.

Places

Lalish (Iraq)

The central sanctuary, in the Sheikhan district, north-east of Mosul. It houses the tomb of Sheikh Adi. Every Yazidi is called to make a pilgrimage there.

Mount Sinjar (Iraq)

The area where a large share of Iraq’s Yazidis lived, and the site of the genocide of August 2014.

Aknalich (Armenia)

The Quba Mêrê Dîwanê temple, inaugurated in 2019, one of the largest Yazidi temples in the world.

Tbilisi (Georgia)

The Sultan Êzîd centre, opened in 2015 in the Varketili district.

Festivals

New Year (Sersal)

Also called Çarşema Sor, Red Wednesday. It is celebrated on the first Wednesday of April in the Julian calendar, that is, in mid-April. Eggs are dyed, homes are decorated with flowers and meals are shared.

Cejna Cemayê

The Feast of the Assembly, the great annual pilgrimage to Lalish, in early October.

Cejna Êzî

In December, preceded by three days of fasting (Rojiyên Êzî).

In France, these festivals are an occasion for family and community gatherings.

Sources

• Christine Allison, “Yazidis i. General”, Encyclopædia Iranica.
• French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), documentation on the situation of the Yazidis.
• The Unicode Standard 13.0 (2020), “Yezidi” block, U+10E80 to U+10EBF.

Spotted a mistake or have something to add? Write to us: contact@uniondesyezidisdefrance.fr.