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Yezidis
A religious sect of Krudistan known
as devil worshipers who reside in the region of Monsul. They refer to themselves
as Dasni, but other Kruds give them the name of Yezidi, which is thought
to be derived from the Persian Yazdan, meaning "God."
Their religion is presumably a combination of Mazdaism, Islam and Christianity,
and their theology resembles that of Gnostics and Albigensian beliefs. The world is believed to have
been created by Lucifer, the fallen angel as an agent of the supreme God,
and Lucifer is propitiated by worship in the symbolic form of the peacock.
The reasoning of this worship is that it avoids mentioning the Devil by
name and averts evil.
In their religious beliefs the Yezidees consider Christ to be an angel in
human form, and Mohammed a prophet along with Abraham and others. They practice
baptism and circumcision.
Their sacred texts were translated by F. Nau, Recueil de textes et de
documents sur les Yezidis (1918). There are other works describing the
Yezidia and their beliefs: The Cult of the Peacock Angel by R. H.
Empson (1928), Adventures in Arabia among the Bedouins Druses Whirling
Derivishes & Yezidee Devilworshipers by W. B. Seabrook (1928), Peacock
Angel by E. S. Drower. A.G.H.
Source: 9.