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Yezidi communities throughout the world are struggling with their collective identity; each at a varying and somewhat differing stage of self-discovery. While the present paper does seek to elaborate upon this journey for the Yezidis in Transcaucasia, Germany, Canada, and the USA, its main focus remains the analysis of the political developments in the Yezidi heartland of Northern Iraq. This is so that the reader may have a fuller picture of the catalysts spurring this Yezidi reimagining. On the one hand, you have the traditional Yezidi leadership caught within a complex series of client-patron relationships with Kurdish leaders: ethnic identification is leveraged for promises of influence and power. While, on the other hand, newly minted Yezidi military commanders, as well as grassroot figures and Yezidi NGOs, are trying to establish themselves as heads of a Yezidi community that is undeniably distinct from their Kurdish neighbours. This paper will further show that the withdrawal of the Kurdish Peshmerga in the face of the ISIS attack in 2014, the half-hearted responses of the regional Kurdish and Federal Iraqi governments, all coupled with the stalled return of Yezidi refugees contributed to a growing Yezidi movement to cement their identity, as well as satiate a growing urgency to define themselves as a distinct ethnoreligious entity.

The Prophet Noah is not a predominant figure within the Yezidi mythology, and so it should come as no particular surprise that he is often absent from the Yezidi sacred hymns. This peculiarity seems easily explained by the Yezidi cosmogonic myth, which places the emergence of Yezidis as a separate and wholly distinct occurrence from the genesis of the rest of humanity. Hence, a mythical catastrophe reducing mankind to merely one family would certainly contradict said cosmogony. And yet, the tale of “Noah and the Serpent” somehow finds itself recounted within every Yezidi community. The present paper will demonstrate that this veneration of Noah is a remnant of an essential Gnostic myth and has the makings of a Wandersage—containing elements of Central Asian beliefs and Mesopotamian mythology,—which is not only widely attested among the Muslim and Christian neighbours of the Yezidis in Northern Iraq but narrated throughout Asia Minor, Central Asia, as well as South-eastern and Eastern Europe.

Amongst Kurds and Yezidis the circumcision of male children and the subsequent bloodbond (kerāfat), formed between the circumcised and the one chosen to hold the boy on his knees during the procedure, has been until the recent past a major rite of passage, as well as a functioning protection mechanism. However, within the last few decades significant changes have occurred in Northern Iraq; and only the Yezidis and a few Kurdish tribes in remote areas still uphold the traditions of the kerāfat. The Yezidis in Armenia and Georgia have completely abandoned this institution and have also altered their practice of circumcision.The present article sheds light on the Yezidi kerāfat, the mutual social obligations of the two blood-brothers, as well as the marriage barriers established between their respective families. Furthermore, it tracks the modifications circumcision has undergone in Northern Iraq, Turkey, and among Yezidis in the diaspora. In this context, it elaborates on the circumcision practices of the Yezidis in Northern Iraq, Germany, and Transcaucasia especially highlighting the changes introduced through contact with, and the social pressures of, the respective majority population—in particular, focusing on Armenia and Georgia where these changes have resulted in the circumcision of the dead.

The Gilgit-Division (northern Pakistan) and the Dah-Hanu area (the westernmost part of Ladakh, India) have always been difficult to access. This is due in part to the mountainous terrain, which is made even more treacherous by the prevailing security instability (certain areas are still off limits for foreigners due to the Kashmir conflict). Hence, there has been very little anthropological research undertaken in this area over the last 50 years. The present paper attempts to revive the interest in these neglected regions by examining ancient traits of shamanism, as well as the worship of pre-Islamic and pre-Buddhist deities, still prevailing around Gilgit and in the Dah-Hanu area. Furthermore, this study sheds light on the history, culture and religion of the Shin people. It does so by elaborating on the changes the old Dardic belief system underwent in order to adapt to the missionary efforts of “world-religions” conquering the region. Finally, this work attempts to explain and date the different Shin-migrations, which took these people from their homesteads in Kohistan to the Gilgit region and from there to the Dah-Hanu area. The research is based on interviews carried out by the author in Gilgit, Bagrot, Hunza and Nagar, as well as in the Dah-Hanu area (15 male and 15 female shamans; 6 male priests, and numerous villagers) between 2011 and 2013. In addition, the author witnessed the very rare initiation of a male shaman in Lower Hunza. He further observed two shamanic séances in the Dah-Hanu area.

The article presents a detailed discussion of several key issues concerning the essentials of the Yezidi identity―the Yezidi religion, particularly the folk pantheon and the conceptions of divinity, based upon the analysts of the recent monograph by Garnik S. Asatrian and Victoria Arakelova.

The seven sanjaqs, or sacred images of Malak Tawus, are the most concrete expression of Yezidism and considered the holiest of the holy ritual objects of that religion. Only a handful of non-Yezidis have ever seen one, and very little is known about them. The latter holds, in particular, true with regard to the so-called Moskovi-sanjaq. Before World War I it was sent to the Russian Empire (East Anatolia and the Transcaucasus) every year, but was reported lost in 1914.Based on numerous interviews with Yezidis in Armenia, as well as on official correspondence between British, Iraqi, and Soviet authorities, the first part of the article reconstructs the odyssey of the Moskovi-sanjaq and the seven priests (qewwals) carrying it. It confirms that after 16 years of wandering through the Transcaucasus, five of the seven qewwals were eventually able to return via Odessa and London to the Yezidi heartland in Northern Iraq, but concludes that the Moskovi-sanjaq was ultimately lost in Georgia—confiscated by the Soviet authorities.The second part of the paper describes the history of a second sanjaq, which the author discovered in a village near Yerevan, secretly kept and protected from the prying eyes of non-Yezidis by a sheikhly family. Although all tales and myths, explaining how this second sanjaq arrived in Armenia, are examined and analysed, the origin of that sacred image remains mysterious. The article further paints a detailed picture of the cult, which evolved around the sacred image in Armenia as well as of the—sometimes savage—fights over its possession and the struggle of the keepers of the sanjaq with the Soviet authorities. In addition to interviews with eyewitnesses, the author bases his findings on court decisions and minutes of the councils of Yezidi elders, as well as information found at Yezidi graveyards.