Life of Yazidis in Armenia

(Short ethnogaphic essays on the life and life of Yazidis in Armenia)

The village of Gai is located in the Armavir province of the Republic of Armenia. Fayzo Rashid Avdoyan kindly agreed to tell about the life of Yazidis in the village of Gaj. The village is Armenian-Yazidi, where more than 40 Yazidi families live. The total population is more than 1200 families.

According to Fayzo Rashid Avdoyan, formerly the village was called Khatunarkh. It was founded in 1670-1680 and was called Khatunarch, after Khatun, the wife of the Yerevan Safi Khan, who built a canal here with her husband, and two villages there were called Upper and Lower Khatunarch. (Upper Khatunarkh the present village Aknashen). It was renamed in 1978. The modern name Gai was given in honor of Hayk " Gai " Brzskyants, commander of the 6th Armenian volunteer regiment, commander of the Armenian Armed forces, Hero of the Russian Civil war, participant of the Soviet-Polish war, people's Republic of Armenia (1922), commander of the corps (1935, now Lieutenant General), Professor (since 1933), member of the ICRC (since 1918).

According to Fayzo Avdoyan, the Yazidis settled in the 1950s. The villagers are mainly engaged in fruit, vegetable, horticulture, poultry and animal husbandry. Agricultural land is irrigated by the waters of the Akhuryan canal.

Fayzo Avdoyan: "It's quite difficult to earn a living. In summer, the weather does not bother anyone, the temperature rises to 40-45 degrees Celsius, imagine in this heat to work as difficult. There is a lot of work, but the income from this work is not enough.

There is a school in the village. In recent years, the number of students continuing their studies after school has decreased significantly. Some do not see the future in this, some do not have the opportunity, some after school help the family with the economy... The native Yazidi language is not taught in the school. The reason, the absence of a teacher. Learning your native language is very important for us, because in addition to speaking, you need to know the grammar of the Yazidi language, it is very important.

In the village, Yazidis mostly speak Yazidi and there is no problem with this.

The village has its own Yazidi intelligentsia: Asan Avdoyan, worked as an accountant in the provincial administration. Kyaram Navoyan, worked as an accountant in auto base city Vagharshapat (Echmiadzin) and village Council of the village of Haykashen. Brothers Amar and Ajo Navoyan, worked in the precinct.

Among the population of the village, there are no customs left-marriages between close relatives or previously married girls. This topic has been discussed many times among the community and people have come to the conclusion that times have changed, it is unacceptable that a girl at the age of 14 got married, everything has its time. A girl should be physically and mentally ready for marriage, should soberly assess the difficulties of such a life.

Real modern traditional way of life of the Yazidi community in the village

Very little has changed, we can say, in the tradition of the people. But it somehow turned into incompetence, in particular by and large to pathos. For example, the abundance of a table at a funeral. For several years, according to the General decision of the village community, some food items such as cognac, beer, exotic fruits, seafood and sweets were removed at the memorial service. To distinguish the wedding table from the funeral table. It was also customary to donate a sum of money to the relatives of the deceased, so as to reduce costs, since usually 500 people come to the funeral on average.

I would also like to add that our representatives of the clergy, represented by Sheikhs and Pirs, do a great and difficult job during funerals."

Fayzo Avdoyan: "there are no such big problems concerning the population in our village. All the necessary work is done. The village is supplied with natural gas, there is a night consecration throughout the village, the roads are quite good, in a word, everything is good.