Miscellaneous Lalish

I can't fit all of the pictures of Lalish into one or even two posts, so my first one dedicated entirely to Lalish will be of some of the miscellaneous sights that caught my attention as I didn't fully (or even partially) comprehend what I was seeing on my first foray into the temple (for want of an interpreter).

This picture below is of a room inside the temple compound, but not connected to the temple. The "litter" you see strewn on the "benches" around the room is in actuallity BREAD! It is left here by the devout to be blessed. After it has been blessed, the Lalish pilgrims will take some away with them so that they had have bread blessed by the holy man at their home.

Below, please find the typical type of photo I take when I don't really understand what I am looking at. It is the detailed stonework over the entrance to the main temple building. If I had thought about it more, I would have looked to see if there was a peacock engraved somewhere and taken a photo of that.

Our driver stands in front of the doorway next to a huge black serpent. What does it signify? Hard to say. He couldn't get an answer from our hosts and stories on the internet indicate different origins. Did Shelk Adi turn this menace into stone on the wall of the temple or does it signify the earthly incarnation of one of the great angels?

This is in one of the inner rooms of the temple where the olive (?) oil is stored. Oil is one of the first things I noticed as I entered. The temple smelled of oil (olive or vegetable) and even the stone floor tiles felt slightly oily...

As it turns out, the oil was used to keep the lamps (which were everywhere) during the night. Prayers are said at different times, but the mains ones are in the evening and morning (both conducted facing the sun and between which these lamps must be kept alight). The other prayers can be said facing Lalish!

I hope these snippets are enough to whet your appetite for more Lalish information, be it truth or falsehood.