1. God is peacock/Satan:
As you pass through the doorway into the temple, you enter the tomb of the 7 great angels. All of these angels are incarnations of a supreme god who greated the universe, the seas and of course Lalish! One of the incarnations, the archangel Tawsi Melek (peacock angel) is the one through which the supreme God administers his rule over Lalish, the Earth and maybe even the universe. That Tawsi Melek is Satan was not clear from visitng Lalish, but the word "Shaetan" is forbidden there, so if "he" is considered to be Satan or Lucifer, then the concept is completely different. It appears that Tawsi Melek was present in the Garden with Adam, but to teach him thow to survive in the world and so forth... not to tempt him to evil. At the tomb of the 7 great Angels, certainly nothing malevolent happens... Pilgrims go up to one of the rainbow colored cothes covering the tombs and tie a knot in it while making a wish. After wish-making, they untie a knot that was made prior to thier visit to ensure that the wish of someone else will come true.
2. Virginal sacrices and other strange rituals?
Hmmm... I am really not sure about this one, although lots of violence has happened as a result of intolerance between the Muslim and Yezidi communities. Women from both communities have been killed in the past year as a result of being seen with men from the other community. However, at the temple itself, I could only find evidence of a whole lot of lamp-lighhting, praying and wishing. This picture shows another form of wishing that takes place in the temple. Believers stand in the Cave of the Wishing Rock, close their eyes and try to throw a cloth on top of the rock. You have three tries and only one has to be successful. I failed all three times.
3. Noone can become a Yezidi.
Well maybe not now, but once upon a time... seems that Yezidism is not so exclusive and secretive due to strange and terrifying rituals, but rather due to persecution at the hands of mainstream culture in the area. Perhaps there was a fear that this minority group would grow if people were allowed to convert and they stopped it. The picture below shows the entrance to the cave leading to the Sacred Brook of Zemsem. The cave leads to the brook and beyond where there is a separate exit out of the temple. Once upon a time, exiting on the other side was to exit as a reborn Yezidi. Only Dr. P was invited down to the brook this time, but she didn't go out to the other side. I guess this only makes her an honorary, but not true Yezidi.
4. The Yezidi religion is a deviation of...
what? It really isn't clear. However, the lamplighting and praying to the sun make it clear the connections to Zoroastrianism. Also, there is a supreme God as in Christianity and Islam... and the leader who wrote down the scriptures (as late as the 1100s) was a converted Muslim (to my understanding): Sheikh Adi, the inhabitant of the biggest tomb at Lalish - the one you can kiss and circle to make more wishes/prayers. The picture below shows the Altar of Heaven and Hell (represented by two side-by-side holes in the rock) found in an inner sanctum belond the tombs of the 7 angels, the entrance to the cave of the Sacred Brook of Zemsem and the cave of the wishing rock. Heaven and Hell are other interesting concepts. Apparently, some believe that there is a hell, but only the truly bad people go there, but others believe in a form of reincarnation whereby the greatest ill that cold befall you is to be reborn as a non-Yezidi. Does this hark back to Hinduism? Kurds are an Indo-European peoples.
These are only a few of the mysteries of Lalish. Please comment if you have further information or other interesting points to ponder.
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