The religion of the Yezidis

The religion of the Yézidis

The Yézidis are a religious sect of Western Asia whose majority lives in the hills and mountains situated to the north-east of Mosul and in the rebel Gebel Singar situated to the west of the city. This sect has also its adherents in the province of Damascus, in the environs of Aleppo, in Baghdad and in Tiflis, and in the territories lying round this city. As it is generally held, although just as we shall see in what follows, erroneously, that they worship the Devil, they are called Devil-worshippers. They call themselves Ezidis. They are often called by the Iranians and the Turks Şeytān-perest  Cyrāg-sönduren respectively. The latter term means extinguishers of lamps, and refers to the orgies in which, according to some authors, the Yézidis plunge themselves during their feasts, during whose course they extinguish the lamps in order to be able to commit abominable acts more freely. Another name by which they are mentioned is Dawāsin...