Glossary of Terms

 

• Agha: A tribal leader or landowner among Kurds

 

• Ashori: Assyrians

 

• Baba Jawesh: Senior clergyman at Lalish

 

• Beba Sheikh: Literally means “Father” Sheikh” and refers to the spiritual head of the Yezidi.

 

• Beri: Milkmaid

 

• Barat: Small balls made of earth from the sanctuary of Sheikh Adi and the water of the Zemzem spring. They are regarded as sacred and are distributed to the pilgrims at the time of the festivals.

 

• Bokhchk

 

• Chajna:  Religious festival/holiday

 

• Diwan:  Village guest house

 

• Faqir:

 

• Ftwa:  Islamic ruling

 

• Gholam:  Servent/slave

 

• Hevi:  Hope

 

• Kani:  Spring.  A place where subsoil water rises and flows on the surface of the ground.

 

• Khatuna Fakhran: A female figure. She came from a branch of the Shamsani family and is believed to have lived in the thirteenth century. She was the daughter of Sheikh Fakhr al-Din, wife of Hasan Jelle and sister of Sheikh Mand Pasha.

 

• Khirqa: A kind of tunic worn by religious men (feqirs). According to sufis, the khirqa is the most appropriate form of religious dress, derived from the prototypical costume worn by Adam and Eve when they were placed upon the earth.

 

• Khoda:  God

 

• Kiriv:  The “guardian of the child”. He is a kind of godfather who takes care of the child during circumcision.

 

• Kochek:  Far-seer is a servent of Lalish, but also sees into far away

 

• Kolav:  Carpet to sit on

 

• Kurmanji:  A Kurdish dialect spoken by the Yezidis as well as by the Kurds in Syria and some in southern Turkey. Kurmanji is in the same linguistic family as the Sorani Kurdish dialect spoken in Erbil and Sulaimanya.

 

• Kušṭa - Handshake

 

• Lalish Noorani:  ”Serene” or “sacred” Lalish. Lalish, in Iraq’s northern Kurdish mountains, is to the Yezidis what Jerusalem is to followers of the three great monotheistic faiths: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

 

• Malah:  Clerical in Sunni Islam

 

• Mezn et Ma:  Leaders

 

• Millet:  An ethnic group

 

• Mir:  A leader of a principality. Prince, commander, ruler.

 

• Murid:  The layman

 

• Palas:  Woven carpet

 

• Peshteeg:  A yellow sash that used to be worn by the elderly women

 

• Qewel:  Hymns

 

• Qewal:  Religious singers responsible for passing down the hymns and prayers from generation to generation. Qewals mostly live in Bashiq and Bahzana.

 

• Qubba:  Dome

 

• Sahaba:  Angel

 

• Sere Sal:  New Year

 

• Shahada:  The declaration that there is only one God and Mohammed is his last prophet

 

• Sharia:  The Muslim code, a legal system based on Qur’an

 

• Shermi:  Shame

 

• Sheikh:  Head of the Arab tribe

 

• Sheikh a Sheikh Mend:  A lineage of sheikhs able to handle snakes. This ability is ascribed to their family.

 

• Techmh:  It’s when the Yezidis were forced into “collective villages” from the mountains. Muslims were move  to live among them and mosques were built in their area too.

 

• Wilayat:  State or Province

 

• ZemZem:  The holy spring in Lalish

 

• Zardashty:  In English, this is  known as Zoroastrianism, a religious movement reformed by Zoroaster between 1700 and 1000 B.C.E. Perhaps in Balkh, but taking as its base a much older Iranian religion as is expressed in the Zend-Avesta. The name derives from the supreme God of the Good.