The Yazidi calendar, rooted in ancient solar worship and oral tradition, has been transmitted through manuscripts, seasonal rites, and community memory. This article traces its historical sources, explains its solar‑lunar structure, and examines how Yazidis today observe the calendar amid diaspora and reconstruction.
Virtual tours of Lalish, the holiest Yazidi shrine, are reshaping access, devotion, and preservation of Yazidi faith. By merging immersive 360° technology with centuries‑old pilgrimage traditions, digital pilgrimage offers new avenues for worship, education, and cultural resilience.
Across Europe, Yazidi youth organisations such as the Oldenburg Youth Group, the Pforzheim curriculum initiative, and the Hannover‑based Yazidi Academy provide weekly gatherings, structured curricula, and literacy courses that sustain the Kurdish‑Kurmanji language and core religious teachings. These programmes respond to the post‑2014 diaspora influx and aim to preserve identity while fostering integration.
Nanê Ezî is the sacred bread central to Yazidi ceremonial feasts, embodying cosmological symbolism and communal renewal. Its preparation follows strict ritual steps that echo the religion’s creation myths and seasonal festivals such as Red Wednesday and the New Year.
Yazidi Qewwals are hereditary reciter‑musicians who preserve the sacred hymns (qewls) through oral transmission. Their training begins in early childhood, involves intensive memorisation, musical instruction, and ritual duties, culminating in a formal apprenticeship under a master Qewwal.
The Digital Archives of Kochek Revelations is a community‑driven, web‑based repository that records, digitises, and curates the living oral canon of Yazidism. Built on the foundations of the Yazidi Community Archive and Yazda’s cultural preservation programmes, it safeguards qewls, çiroks and other sacred texts for scholars and future generations.
Inter‑caste marriage—marriage between members of different Yazidi castes—has historically been prohibited but is undergoing transformation in the wake of genocide, diaspora, and modern pressures. This article surveys recent trends, the social and religious challenges faced, and how Yazidi communities across regions are responding.
Yazidi women play a crucial role in preserving the community’s oral hymns and ritual knowledge, transmitting qewls, beyts, and ceremonial practices within families and domestic spheres. Their contributions sustain the faith’s continuity alongside the male qawwāl tradition.
This article examines the structure, origins, and ritual significance of the Yazidi sacred calendar, contrasting it with the ancient Iranian calendars of the Zoroastrian and Seleucid traditions. It highlights shared seasonal roots, divergent computations, and scholarly debates.
The Bedirxan family, heirs of the Bohtan emirate, forged a series of strategic alliances in the Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions during the 19th century. Their collaborations ranged from Ottoman central authorities to Kurdish tribal coalitions and the Young Turk movement, shaping early Kurdish nationalism.