Social organization, roles, and everyday life within Yazidi communities
Contemporary Yazidi communities are engaged in vigorous debates over religious reform, clerical authority, and diaspora influence. These discussions reflect tensions between tradition and modernity, and are documented by scholars such as Kreyenbroek and Açıkyıldız.
Feqir and Qewal are the two principal categories of religious specialists in Yazidi society, responsible for ritual performance, theological interpretation, and transmission of oral tradition. This article, published by Yazidis.info, surveys their historical development, functions, regional variations, and scholarly debates.
Yazidi religious knowledge is preserved chiefly through oral hymns, ritual gatherings, and familial instruction, forming a resilient intergenerational chain. Yazidis.info documents these mechanisms with scholarly citations, highlighting regional variations and scholarly debates.
Birê and Xwişka Axiretê are central mythic figures in Yazidi cosmology, representing the brother‑sister pair who guard the threshold of the after‑life. Their narrative, preserved in oral qewl and written texts, illustrates Yazidi conceptions of death, judgment, and the soul’s journey.