In this post we drive to Erbil via: Sharia, Alqosh and Lalish. The highlight was easily the “Lalish Autumn Assembly Celebration” which occurs each year at this time for people of the Yazidi Faith.
The morning began with tea and coffee in the Martyr's Tea House, a palce dedicated to all those Kurd soldiers and civilians that died fighting ISIS and Hussein's forces. The sadness continued. We visited the largest refugee camp in Iraq just outside the town of Sharia. There are between 25,000 and 40,000 refugees here both from Syria, Turkey, Iraq (Kurdistan) due to their homes being demolished by ISIS. A fence with guards surround the large sturdy tents and refugees are free to come and go as they please and even take up work in the town. It is a bleak setting – flat, sandy and hot. My room mate Ozzie traveller Reggie actually spoke to one of the refugees who was seeking asylum in Australia.
The village of Alqosh (Pop 4,567, Elev 585m, Founded 1500BC) is home the “Christian Church of the East” which is based on the Catholic Chaldean Church which separated from the Assyrian Church of The East in 1552. We saw the Mar Qaradagh Chaldean Catholic Church from the outside and visited the cemetery but the real highlight was the Rabban Hormizd Monastery built into a nearby mountain. The Rabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church, founded about 640 AD, carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul. It was the official residence of the patriarchs of the Eliya line of the Assyrian Church of the East from 1551 to the 18th century, and after the union with Rome in the early 19th century, it became a prominent monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The monastery is named after Rabban Hormizd (rabban is the Syriac for monk) of the Church of the East, who founded it in the seventh century and is now a Saint and entombed there inside a chapel dedicated to him. We visited several Chapels inside: St Anthony, The Four Evangelists, Holy Trinity, St Hormizd (Tomb) and St Gabriel Danbow (Tomb). We also saw the cell of St Hormizd carved as a small cave room in the mountain. The sad news is that this huge monastery which once housed 600 monks is mow empty. The Catholic Chaldeans still take care of it but there are not enough monks in Iraq to make it viable. A pity.
The highlight of the day is what came next - the “Lalish Autumn Assembly Celebration” outside the town of Shekahn. This is also called “The Feast of Assembly”. A cultural and religious phenomenon. Lalish is the name given to the religious complex of the Yazidi faithful which set in a valley and comprises a number of shrines including the main Temple of the tomb of the Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a central figure of the Yazidi faith. I explain the Yazidi Religion at the end of this post after the photos. Lalish is 60km north of Mosul and 1,000m above sea level. The Feast of the Assembly attracts Yazidi faithful from all over Iraq and some parts of the world, who will make this pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. It is held 6 to 13 October every year. During the festival, the whole community comes together, all tribal chiefs, religious dignitaries and authorities are together in one place and special performances, celebrations and rituals are performed, this includes processions, communal meals, theatrical performances, recitals of qewls, animal sacrifices and candle lighting, this festival is also celebrated joyously with dances, musical performances, markets, and games. It offers a great opportunity for young Yazidis to meet, date, and party. In fact this festival is the best time for singles to find a partner for marriage. The guys make up their hair to stand up like a wave in the front, colour it jet black and put in enough gel to withstand a hurricane. Elvis would be jealous. The higher the hair-do the more chance the guy has of finding a wife !!! Enjoy the photos of some guys sure to win !!! I spent 2 hours in the company of three local guys, Emaad, Sajid and Holak who not only showed me around the key buildings but took me inside the main temple to participate in their religious venerations. The festival attracts more than 10,000 faithful who must enter the area in socks or barefoot and walk 2km to the front gate and then around the complex. There is plenty of food and water inside and even camping is allowed for those who have walked from afar and cannot get home same day. There is ample singing and dancing and it was a delight to see. The locals could not stop welcoming us and giving us something to eat or drink for free. It was a moving experience and well worth the trek out here to see it.
Our return to Erbil was slightly dramatic. About 15km from our hotel our bus suffered a flat tyre ! Our guide Balin was quick to organise taxis to take us the rest of the way but instead of the hotel the taxis ended up at the Erbil Citadel. I decided to walk the remaining 900m to the hotel since I was in Erbil the whole day tomorrow and could visit it then instead of now in darkness (sun had just set) and with a backpack and wine in my hands !!! Good call. Got to hotel, bought some wine and hot food along the way and enjoyed a terrific movie and dinner in bed on my final night in Iraq.
The next morning I went for a 10km run and then visited the Erbil Citadel. It is an entire city in its own right sitting on top of a huge elevated mound in the middle of the city. The oval mound is 430 by 340m and covers 102 square metres and sits up to 32m above the new city. The earliest evidence for occupation of the citadel mound dates to the 5th millennium BC, and possibly every visible when you walk around inside. The view of the city and bazar is great.
At 1730 the last five remaining travellers on this trip were driven to Erbil Airport. Iraq and Kurdistan region in particular has been an unexpected eye-opener – so much history and culture and antiquity. We always felt safe and more importantly we always welcomed by the locals who were not after money but glad to see us. I am so glad I saw the people of Iraq and a country that is trying to find its way back into the world scene.
Enjoy the Lalish festival especially and the people that make it special. This is the last post for Iraq – the next post will come to you from Cyprus !!!
ABOUT THE YAZIDI FAITH:
Yazidis or Yezidis are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan. There is a disagreement among scholars and in Yazidi circles on whether the Yazidi people are a distinct ethnoreligious group or a religious sub-group of the Kurds, an Iranic ethnic group. Yazidism is the ethnic religion of the Yazidi people and is monotheistic in nature, having roots in a pre-Zoroastrian Iranic faith.
Yazidism is a monotheistic faith based on belief in one God, who created the world and entrusted it into the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr, the Seven Mysteries. Preeminent among these is Tawûsê Melek, the Peacock Angel.
Yezidism emerged in the 12th century when Sheikh Adi, who, after studying in Baghdad, established an order of his own called Adawiyya, settled in Lalish valley and introduced his doctrines to the local Kurds at the time practicing an old Iranic faith, which although similar, was separate from Zoroastrianism and was of pre-Zoroastrian origin. After his death in 1162 AD, his disciples and successors blended his doctrines and teachings with the local and ancient Iranic traditions. Because of this, Yezidi tradition uses many terms, images and symbols of Sufi or Islamic origin, meanwhile still to a larger extent preserving pre-Islamic mythology, symbology, rituals, festivals and traditions. The Yazidi have no written text to follow – everything is handed down by word of mouth and practices.
Since the spread of Islam began with the early Muslim conquests of the 7th–8th centuries, Yazidis have faced persecution by Arabs and later by Turks, as their religious practices have commonly been charged with heresy by Muslim clerics. Most recently, the 2014 Yazidi genocide that was carried out by the Islamic State saw over 5,000 Yazidis killed and thousands of Yazidi women and girls forced into sexual slavery, as well as the flight of more than 500,000 Yazidi refugees.
There now some 900,000 Yazidi faithful left in
the world and most live in the Kurdistan region closest to Turkey and treated
as a sub-ethnic group of the Kurdish people even though they are not Muslim and
speak their own language. As long as ISIS remains at bay these unique peoples
have a chance of cultural and religious survival.
FAREWELL IRAQ & KURDISTAN REGION !!!
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