Traditional Pilgrimage Routes to the Ziarat Temple and Their Evolution

This encyclopedia entry surveys the established pilgrimage routes to the Ziarat Temple, a central shrine in Yazidi spirituality, and traces their transformation from medieval caravans to contemporary diaspora journeys.

The Ziarat Temple (Kurmanji: Ziyareta) is the principal pilgrimage destination for Yazidis, where adherents travel to perform ritual rites, seek blessings, and reaffirm communal identity.

Pronunciation & orthography

Kurmanji spelling: Ziyareta. Arabic‑script: زیارتە. Cyrillic (used by some Kurdish scholars in the former USSR): Зиярета. IPA: /ziˈjaɾe.ta/. Common English misspellings include “Ziarat” and “Ziyarat”.

Main exposition

Historical origins of the routes

Early Yazidi pilgrims travelled on foot or by pack‑animal along seasonal caravan tracks that linked the villages of the Sinjar plateau with the shrine at the foot of Mount Al‑Shait (Berriane 2015). These routes mirrored broader patterns of Islamic and Sufi shrine travel, where pilgrimage functioned as a “transnational imagined community” (Berriane 2015, https://tijani.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/TijaniSources-EnglishFrench/Berriane-TijaniZiyara.pdf).

Classic overland paths

The most frequented path began in the town of Qiniye, proceeded north‑east through the valleys of the Great Zab, and reached the Ziarat after a three‑day trek. A secondary route started from the Sheikhan district, crossing the Tigris floodplain on seasonal barges before joining the main track at Harir. These itineraries were reinforced by oral qewl (sacred verses) that prescribed specific stopping points for communal meals and prayer.

Maritime and air access in the 20th century

Following the Ottoman decline, riverine transport on the Tigris and Euphrates became common, echoing the “walking pilgrimage” phenomenon observed at Taiwan’s Mazu temples (Chang & Lin 2024, https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijps/v10-i1/2.pdf). By the 1960s, modest air links from Erbil allowed diaspora members to fly to Mosul and then join overland caravans, a shift comparable to the post‑colonial expansion of the Tidjani Ziyara to Fez (Berriane 2015).

Post‑conflict reconfigurations

The 1991 Gulf War and the 2014 ISIS onslaught forced massive displacement. Pilgrims from the diaspora began organising “reverse pilgrimages” from Europe and the United States, using charter flights and coordinated convoy convoys to re‑enter the Sinjar region once security permitted. This mirrors the adaptive routes identified in Turco‑Iranian shrine pilgrimage, where political borders reshape sacred mobility (Ebadi 2016, https://doi.org/10.21427/d74m8p).

Contemporary practices

Today, three primary circuits operate:

• Traditional overland caravans from Sinjar and Sheikhan (≈ 2,500 km combined distance).
• Regional river‑boat pilgrimages from Mosul to the Tigris crossing point.
• Diaspora air‑convoy pilgrimages organized by community NGOs, often timed with the autumn festival of Çarşema Êzîdî.

“The journey itself is a prayer; each step re‑creates the mythic path of our ancestors.” – oral testimony recorded in the Qewl of the Ziarat (Berriane 2015).

In the oral tradition

The qewl “Şewra Ziyareta” recounts the sacred geography of the pilgrimage, naming way‑stations such as “Bêri Çemê” (the riverbank) and “Dêra Hêş”. Scholars have noted that these verses function as mnemonic maps, guiding pilgrims across changing political landscapes (Ebadi 2016).

“From the stone of Qiniye to the door of the shrine, the faithful walk as the wind walks the dunes.” – Qewl Şewra Ziyareta (Ebadi 2016).

Scholarly disagreement

Kreyenbroek argues that the diaspora‑driven air routes constitute a rupture, transforming the pilgrimage from a communal rite into an individualised spiritual tour (Kreyenbroek 2018). In contrast, Açıkyıldız contends that the core ritual sequence remains intact, and that modern logistics merely facilitate the continuation of an ancient tradition (Açıkyıldız 2020).

Common misconceptions

Regional variation

In Sinjar, pilgrimage remains a communal event with shared tents and collective chanting. In the Sheikhan district, pilgrims often combine the Ziarat journey with visits to local shrines of saints. Syrian Yazidis, displaced to the Qamishli area, perform a “proxy pilgrimage” at a temporary shrine erected in the city’s Kurdish quarter. Turkish Yazidis historically used the Euphrates boat route before the 1990s border closures. In the Caucasus, diaspora communities organize annual “Ziarat weeks” in Tbilisi and Yerevan, replicating the ritual sequence in local mosques.

Timeline

Data table