THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON

VICTORIA ARAKELOVA
(Yerevan State University)

The Sun and the Moon (Sheykh Shams and Faxr ad-din)

Sheykh Shams (Šēx Šams, Šēx Šims, Šēšims, Šēšim) and Faxr ad-
din (Farxadīn, Faxradīn): deified historical personalities, brothers,
the sons of ‘Adi II, who was the third to lead the Adawiyya1
community. Except for the fact that the former, Sheykh Shams,
became the head of the community after his father’s death, we can
hardly find any significant event in their real biographies. The
tradition has preserved neither scriptures nor even any oral
testaments attributed to them.
Still, both informally canonised, they passed the limits of mere
saints, and penetrated into the Yezidi folk pantheon, having
become associated with the lords of the sun and the moon.
Generally, the deification process, if it does not have a traceable
genesis, as it does in the case of Sheykh Adi,2 for example, belongs
to the most enigmatic, although widely represented, phenomena in
many syncretic religious systems, and in Yezidism in particular.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with the real contribution of the
deified personage to the history of the religious movement, nor
with his deeds, nor even with thaumaturgy. The “required”
mythological details hide a hero’s realistic characteristics and
together with them the probable derivation of the process itself. All
the more so in the doctrines deprived of a centralised religious
institution, in which orthodoxy is completely left for the spiritual
masters’ interpretation, and the orthopraxy’s fate entirely depends
on the tradition preserved by spiritual castes. In such cases it is

1 The Yezidis’ legendary history traces its origin back to the twelfth century AD, to

Sheykh Adi bin Musafir and his community. Actually, Sheykh ‘Adi was the founder of the
‘Adawiyya Sufi order, a part of which, most probably, became the backbone of the first
Yezidi community. The leader himself was deified in the Yezidi tradition. Sheykh Adi bin
Musafir who had no children of his own, passed the leadership to his nephew Faxr Abu’l
Barakat. And after the latter’s death, the community was led by his son, ‘Adi bin Abi’l-
Barakat or ‘Adi II (J.S. Guest, The Yezidis. A Study in Survival, New York, 1987: 20-21).
2 The deification of Sheykh ‘Adi is an absolutely determinate process. The Sufi orders

are characterised by the veneration of their founders and successor-leaders, who, according
to the Sufi tradition, have special mystical power (baraka) (see Òðèììèíãåì, Ñóôèéñêèå
îðäåíû â èñëàìå, Ìîñêâà, 1989: 25, 33-34). Worshipping masters’ graves is also a part
of the above-mentioned general process, and the case of Sheykh ‘Adi is more than
illustrative here: his sanctuary in Lalesh, North Iraq, became the centre of Yezidism.

 Brill, Leiden, 2002 Iran and the Caucasus, 6. 1-2

58 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

sometimes useless to search for the roots of phenomena, which are

lost, as a rule, in the divagations of the early stages of a teaching’s
formation.
The case with Sheykh Shams, however, does not seem to be so
problematic: the secondary reference of his name with the sun–
Šams ad-dīn (Šēx Šams–the personification of the sun (Šams–
Arabic “the sun”)–determined his identification with the god of the
Diurnal Star.
Sheikh Shams is the third manifestation of Malak-•āwūs,3
corresponding to the Angel Israfil (Raphael). Although mainly the
sun’s personification, Sheykh Shams is sometimes endowed with
the characteristics of the Godhead: one of his epithets is bīnāyā
ĉavā–“the eyes’ light”, which is a metaphor for God among the
Yezidis. And sometimes he is identified with Isa (while ‘Īsā Jesus, is
only nominally represented in the Yezidi liturgy).4
Sheykh Shams is considered the wazīr of Sheykh ‘Adi, that is,
his deputy, and the head of the Yezidi spiritual council (dīvān).
Kreyenbroek’s suggestion5 that Sheykh Shams should be also
regarded as the Lord of the Moon (although traditionally this is his
brother Farxadin’s domain) seems to be unwarranted, as it is based
on an erroneous interpretation of the hymn to which the author
refers. The line Šēšimsē min xudānē māngā, translated as “My
Sheikh Shams is the Lord of the Moon”,6 should be in fact
interpreted as “My Sheikh Shams is the Lord of the Disc (Disc of
the Sun)”. The word māng in similar contexts, which mainly occur
in religious hymns, has two meanings–“moon” and “disc, circle”
(either that of the sun or of the moon; “moon” itself is hīv or hayv
in Kurmanji). See the following passage from the hymn to Sheykh
Shams (Baytā Šēx Šims):

Wē kim, o hiltēya,
Māngā zara p’ēya,

3 Malak-•āwūs (the Peacock Angel) is the quintessence of the Yezidi religion, its raison

d’être. The Peacock Angel, being the incarnation of God Himself, simultaneously possesses
the characteristics of the Fallen Angel. (See a comprehensive article about this personage in
the next issue of Iran & the Caucasus.) Malak-•āwūs has seven avatars: Azrail, Dardail,
Israfil, Michail, Jabrail, Shamnail and Turail (C. J. Edmonds, A Pilgrimage to Lalish,
London, 1967: 4).
4 The author’s filed materials; written down from Sheykh Hasane Mamud (Hasan

Tamoyan), 44 years old, originating from the Armavir region of Armenia.

5 Ph. Kreyenbroek, Yezidism–Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition,

Lewiston, 1995: 98.

6 Ibid.: 279.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 59

Šēx Šims divānbagē xwadēya7

I testify, the Sun has risen,

The golden disc [of course, that of the sun, not of the moon] has
ascended,
Sheykh Shams–the Head of God’s Council.

Or:
ō hātiya a’ršāna,
Hilātiya māngā girāna,
Nūr, nadara
Šēx Šims dāya ma’sīyā binī ba’rāna8

The Sun has ascended to the sky,

The heavy disc has risen,
The light [and] the look of Sheykh Shams penetrated [even]
to the fish under the sea.

Sheykh Shams is the essence of the Yezidi religion, as in Šēx

Šims masabē mina–“Sheykh Shams is the essence [literally
“confession, doctrine”] of my religion”, the light of the faith– ĉirā
dīnī, qible–qibla, the power of the faith–qawatā dīn, the master of
spiritual knowledge–xudanē ma’rīfatē ū ark’ān ū nāsīna, the
owner of the seal–mōrā Šēx Šims, the torch of the Yezidi
community–ĉirā bar sunatē and, the most important, God’s eye–
ĉavē xwadē.
The tradition attributed Sheykh Shams with the power over hell
and the Sirāt bridge:

Wē kim, ō hilāta,
Mizgīna walāta,
Daste Šēx Šims dāya p’ira dōža-salāta.

Wē kim, hiltē ōža,

Šēxē nurī biškōža,
Dastē Šēx Šims dāya p’ira Salāt ū dōža9 (Celil, Celil 19781,
p.33).

7 Celil, Celil1, Zargotina Kurda, vol. 2, Moscow, 1978: 33.

8 Ibid.: 34.
9 Ibid.: 33.
60 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

I testify, the Sun has risen,

The good news to the world,
The bridge of hell–Sirat–is given into the hands of Sheykh
Shams.

I testify, the Sun is ascending,

Sheykh Shams is in the button,10
The Sirat bridge and hell are given into the hands of Sheykh
Shams.

According to the tradition, Sheykh Shams has twelve children

(in accordance with the twelve months). Nine of them are sons:
Xidir (Xidir-nabi), Šēx ’Alī Šams, Āmādīn (‘Imād ad-dīn),
Bābādīn, H’asan, Āvdal (A’vdāl), Bāvik (Bābik), Tōqin and
Hāvind.11 Another version of this list12 is as follows: Āmādīn,
Xidir, Bābik, ’Alī, Āvdal, Bābādīn, Hāwind, H’asan13 and Tōqil
(or Tōqal).14 With the exception of Sheykh Ali Shams and Xidir,
all of them are represented in the tradition nominally, exclusively
as Sheykh Shams’ sons (although there are separate allusions to
some of them15).
As for the daughters of Sheykh Shams, we know nothing about
them but their names: Sti Sti (Stī Stī), Sti Gulan (Stī Gulān) and Sti
Nysrat (Stī Nisrat) (stī is a honourable title, going back to the
Arabic saidatī–“my lady”). See the following:

Tu bāvē Stīyēyī,...
Tu bāvē Stī Nisratē,...
Tu bāvē Stī Gulānē.16

You (Sheykh Shams) are the father of Sti Sti,

10 An allusion to a legend recounting the contention of Sheykh Shams with Farxadin, as

a result of which Sheykh Shams changed into a button and hid himself in Faxradin’s beard–
the author’s field materials, written down from the same informant, see note 4.
11 My informant’s version–see notes 4, 10.
12 Edmonds, op. cit.: 32.
13 It is possible that H’asan could have his prototype in Sheykh Hasan (Šēx H’asan), a

historical personality, and, in fact, the father of Sheykh Shams, who was put to death in
1254 by the governor of Mosul.
14 The image of Tōqil (the corrupted form of the Arabic name Tawakkul) could be

developed from another popular figure: Tawakkul bin Bazzaz (Tawakkul bin Bazzāz), a
well-known Sufi dervish and the spiritual master of Sheykh Safi ad-din Ardabili–the
founder of the Safavid dynasty in Iran.
15 Kreyenbroek, op. cit.: 107-108.
16 Celil, Celil1, op. cit.: 36.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 61

You are the father of Sti Nysrat,

You are the father of Sti Gulan.

In the Praying Code “Dirōzga” all the children of Sheykh

Shams are mentioned:

Yā rabī xatirā, Oh God, Glory to

Šēx Xidirē Šamsā, Sheykh Xidir Shams
(Xidir-nabi, the son of
Shams),
Šēx A’vdalē Šamsā, Sheykh Avdal Shams,
Šēx Āmādē Šamsā, Sheykh Amadin Shams,
Šēx Bābādīnē Šamsā, Sheykh Babadin Shams,
Šēx Bābikē Šamsā, Sheykh Babyk Shams,
Šēx Tōqilē Šamsā, Sheykh Toqil Shams,
Šēx Hāvindē Šamsā, Sheykh Havind Shams,
Šēx H’asanē Šamsā, Sheykh Hasan Shams,
Šēx A’lē Šamsākī. Sheykh Ali Shams.

Yā rabī, xatirā Istīēkī, O God, glory to Sti Sti,

Xatirā Istī Gulānkī ... Glory to Sti Gulan,
(Xatirā Istī Nisratkī)17 Glory to Sti Nysrat.

Sheykh Shams is probably the most frequently mentioned name

in prayers and incantations. The hymns dedicated to him are read
at the funerals of especially honoured members of the Yezidi
community.
The sun’s polyvalence allows Sheykh Shams to interfere in the
other deities’ domains, and sometimes even to acquire the
Demiurge’s features. See, for example, the following:

Yā Šēšims, tuyī ah’manī,

Xāliqē minē ǰānī,
Li h’amū dardā tuyī darmānī,
Li h’amū muxliqā tuyī ah’manī.

Yā Šēšims, tu mafarī,
Xāliqē minē har ū harī;
Rizgā diday ū rizgā dibarī...

17 Celil, Celil2, Zargotina Kurda, Yerevan, 1978: 369, 397.

62 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

Ži darajē h’atā daraǰē,

Šēšims xudāne faraǰē,
Dast ū dāmanēd Šēšims dē t’iwaf kayn
Šūnā Ka’bat-illāhē ū h’aǰē.

O Sheykh Shams, you are compassionate,

You are my dear creator,
For all ills you are the remedy,
To all creatures you are merciful.

O Sheykh Shams, you are a refuge,

You are my creator for ever and ever;
(You) give sustenance and you take it away.

From stage to stage

Sheykh Shams is the Lord of dawn.
We shall kiss the hand of Sheykh Shams and the hem of his
clothes,
The place of God’s Ka‘aba and [the object] of pilgrimage.18

To be more precise, the last two lines should be translated as

follows:

We shall make tavaf [sacred procession] around the hand

Of Sheykh Shams and the hem [of his toga]–
Instead of tavaf around the Ka‘aba and the pilgrimage to
Mecca.

See also further:

Ži sarī h’atā p’ēyā,

Yā Šēšims, ta am naqšāndin dānāyina sarēd ēya,
Am, Šēšims, nābiīn ži hīvīya.

From head to feet,

O Sheykh Shams, you designed us and set us upon our paths,
We shall not give up our hopes of Sheykh Shams.19

18 Kreyenbroek, op. cit.: 396, 397.

19 Ibid.: 258-260.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 63

The Yezidi folk beliefs maintain that Sheykh Shams is also

venerated by Jews and Christians–a phenomenon difficult to
explain. The Yezidi deities are extremely esoteric, and their
attribution to other religious traditions (even those who have vivid
analogues) is strictly prohibited by the tradition. Sheykh Shams
has become an exception, probably due to the omnitude and
universality of the sun. See, for example, the following:

ihū ku di ǰihūna,
Salafxōrin di Bōtānē būna,
Aw žik (ži ku) li pē Šēšim dičūna.

Falah ku falāna,
Yē bi k’ašiš ū ābūnana,
Aw žik li pē Šēšim dihaina.

The Jew, who are Jews,

Were usurers in Bohtan,
They too have gone in search of Sheykh Shams.

The Christians, who are Christians,

Who have priests and monks,
They too are going in search of Sheykh Shams.20

Special attention is to be attracted by the fact that Islam is not

mentioned among the alien confessions, which, at first sight, looks
strange, taking into consideration the present-day emphasis on
the Yezidis’ past separation from the latter. The most probable
explanation here could be only that the qawl’ s text was created at
an early stage of the formation of the Yezidi community, when
the memory of its Adawiyya genesis was still alive and the
complete rupture with Islam had not yet taken place: that is,
when the community still identified itself as a derivative of
mystical Islam.
In some contexts Sheykh Shams has the title Tatar –Šēx Šimsē
T’atar, as in the following:

Či ark’ānaka nadar!
Nāv mērādā bū badal

20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
64 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

Xarqa hāt xalātē Šamsē T’atar.

What a visible cornerstone,

Took his turn among the good men:
The khirqe (“robe”) came to Shems the Tartar.21

The same author’s argument for this interpretation is that

Shams-e Tabrizi, the dervish who inspired Jajal al-Din Rumi,
being an inhabitant of Tabriz, and thus a Turkic-speaker, can be
referred to as “Tartar”.22 Such an overlap, or juxtaposition of two
characters, that is, Sheykh Shams and Shamsi-e Tabrizi, in fact,
does occur in the tradition. Still, the weakness of this explanation
seems to be obvious. For the Yezidis, the Turkic-speaking world
has never been the back of beyond, a remote reality–the greater
part of their history, finally, took place within the Ottoman
Empire. Thus, the Turkic milieu has always existed in the Yezidi
oecumene, and had an unambiguous definition–t’irk “Turk”,
walatē t’irkē (or Rōmē) “Turkey, the country of Turks”.
The Yezidis (as well as other Near Eastern peoples) could
hardly at that time have considered Tabriz to be a Turkic town, as
it had always had for them a definite Iranian attribution. Thus, the
problem should be introduced as follows: by the time of the
creation of this piece of folklore (and this was most probably the
early stage of Yezidism, as noted above), had Tabriz been
Turkicised at all? And if so, was it Turkicised enough to gain the
character of a Turkic town par excellence? The travellers from the
tenth to the fourteenth century (Naser Khosrow, Marco Polo, Ibn
Battuta) chronicled mainly the Iranian ethnic element in the
northern Iranian provinces; the wide-ranging transition from the
Iranian dialects of the area to the Turkic dialects took place only
after the fifteenth century.23
Besides, Shams-e Tabrizi, a renowned Persian poet, could
hardly be associated with the Turks, far much less with Tartars:
Turks were never called “Tartars” in the Near East. The term
“Tartar” has been applied to “Turks” in the European tradition,
and in particular by Russians (cf. “the Caucasian Tartars” as
applied to the Turkic-speaking population of Arran and Shirvan
provinces–the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan).

22 Ibid.: 197
23 Ibid.: 199.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 65

The title t’atar is, apparently, a corrupted form of the Persian

takfūr (which is attested in the same form in Kurdish dialects)
meaning “king”, probably “lord, god”. The exceptional phonetic
development is explained by the secondary reference of the word
t’atar –“Tartar”. The Persian takfūr, in its turn, is borrowed from
the Armenian dialectal t‘äk‘fur (Classical Armenian t‘agawor)–
“king”, which has penetrated into many languages of the region–
apart from Persian and Kurdish, also to Arabic, some Turkic
dialects, and so on.

An interesting detail–the sacrifice of a bull–has prompted some

authors to draw certain parallels between Sheykh Shams and the
Old Iranian Mithras, in later tradition mainly identified with the
sun. In the Yezidi tradition the bull-sacrifice takes place on the
fifth day of Jažnē jamā‘īyya (Arabic ‘ayd al ǰamā`īyya)–the feast of
popular gathering which is annually celebrated during a week
starting from September 23, at Shaykh Shams’ shrine in Lalesh.24
True, tauroctony is one of Mithras’ main characteristics: he is
over and again depicted as bull-slaying Mithras.25 But we can
hardly trace the Yezidi rite of the bull-sacrifice back to the
Mithraic mysteries, or to the Old Iranian religious
Weltanschauung in general. The analogy in such a multi-cultural
ethnic-religious area as Northern Mesopotamia could be
attributed to any indirect influence: the idea of the bull-sacrifice
could have various roots, including, of course, the Old Iranian
ones. A bull as a cultic animal could have become the object of
various rites in many traditions; this requires a very fastidious
approach while interpreting the given cases. Moreover, the myth
about the sacrifice of a bull, carried over from one tradition to
another, can acquire a principally new content.
It is not the “iconography” of the bull-slaying idea that must
come first here, but the idea of sacrifice itself. Because if the
“icon”, the scene, the rite itself, can pass unchanged from one
tradition to another, it is still usually filled with another content,
which is closer and clearer to the mentality of a new culture. It is
just the idea, which is being transformed, when it transcends the
scope of the authentic culture. A shining example of such a
transformation can be provided precisely by Mithras, who
migrated from the Old Iranian pantheon to the Roman one, and

24 Ã.Ñ. Àñàòðÿí, Ýòþäû ïî èðàíñêîé ýòíîëîãèè, Åðåâàí, 1998: 25-32.

25 Kreyenbroek, op. cit.: 59-61.
66 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

thus, the authentic Iranian idea of bull-slaying in the act of

cosmogony was transformed in order to become meaningful for
the Roman devotee. In this regard J. Hinnells states “…the
Roman Mithraic reliefs depict the divine sacrifice which gives life
to a man, a concept which ultimately derived from Iran but which
was expressed in terms meaningful to people living in the Graeco-
Roman world.”26
Thus, even if the parallel between the sacrifice of a bull to the
Yezidi sun-deity and Mithras’ tauroctony seems to be obvious, still
the interpretations of the ideas of these rites in both traditions may
have practically no points of contact.

Due to the special attitude of the Yezidis to the sun, Sheykh

Shams is one of the most venerated religious characters in the
tradition: Šēx Šams ĉirāya –“Sheykh Shams is our light”, they
say.27 At dawn a righteous Yezidi should kiss the place where the
first rays of the sun fall, and neither a Muslim nor a Christian nor
a Jew should see him at that moment.28 Still, this is not an
adequate reason to consider Yezidis to be sun-worshippers, as they
are often characterised in literature. In the phrase of Sheykh
Hasane Mamud (field materials)–Sheykh Shams is xāčē maya,
“our cross”, only one of the Yezidis’ symbols. The sun-
worshipping among the Yezidis does not have any special
resonance or relevance beyond the scope of the universal
comprehension of the solar cult.29

The situation with Farxadin, that is, Faxr ad-din (Faxradīn,

Farxadīn)–the personification of the moon–is more enigmatic.
There is no way to relate his name to the moon; and the
information about his historical prototype gives no grounds for the
similar development of the mythological personage. Farxadin
acquired his lunar character, most likely, as a result of his sibling
relationship with Sheykh Shams, who was transmogrified into the

26 See Ô. Êþìîí, Ìèñòåðèè Ìèòðû, Ñ-Ïåòåðáóðã, 2000), and J. R. Hinnells,

“Reflections on the Bull-Slaying Scene”, in Mithraic Studies, vol. 2, ed. J. R. Hinnells,

Manchester, 1975: 290-312; on the hangover of this cult among the Armenians, see J.
Russell, Zoroastrianism in Armenia, Harvard, 1978: 264 et. sq
27 Hinnells, op. cit., 309; see also W. M. Brashear, “Ein mithräischer Katechismus aus

Ägypten in Berlin”, Antike Welt: Zeitschrift für Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte 1, 1993:
2-19.
28 Celawa Šēx Dewrēš, Du‘a ū druzgē ezdīya, Rewan, 1993: 11.
29 G. R. Driver, “The Religion of the Kurds”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies

II/2, 1922: 197-213, especially 209.

 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 67

solar deity due to his name. Such a cliché is quite typical for the
Near Eastern religious mentality, according to which the sun and
the moon are male deities, neighbouring each other in the sky.30
Thus it is no wonder that the full blood-brother of Sheykh Shams,
the personification of the sun, could come to be approached as his
celestial brother as well. This does not come into conflict with the
fact that the Yezidi folk tradition considers the sun and the moon
to be brother and sister.
In any case, the elusive concept of this personage is also
evidential of the secondary character of Farxadin as that of the
lunar deity. It is enough to mention that a prolix hymn dedicated
to Farxadin–Qawlē Malak Farxadīn31 –does not even allude to his
connection with the moon.
Malak Faxradīn (Farxadīn) or A’zīz Malak Faxradīn, that is,
(Saint) Angel Farxadin, according to the “Black Scripture”,32 is
identified with Turail (or Nurail), the seventh avatar33 of Malak-
•āwūs. Thus, actually, the only reference to his lunar character is
the fact that in folk tradition the moon is called Māngā Malak
Farxadīn–“The disc of the Angel Farxadin”.34 Another, rather
indirect, reference to the celestial nature of Farxadin can be found,
probably, in the following passage of the qawl:

Či bāziyakī bi-nūrīna,
Fiī, ču a’zmīna,
Min nadizānī ku suā Faxradīna.

What a luminous falcon it is!

It flew away, it went to Heaven,
I was unaware that it was a mystery of Fekhr el-Dīn.35

The lunar nature of Faxradin is also revealed from the ability to

heal from the “lunar disease”–kēma hayvī or hīvē lēxistī (literally
“the moonstruck”), ascribed to him. Still, my field materials about

30 On the solar cult among the Armenians, see ê. ÈÇëÇóÛ³Ý, ¼³Ý·»½áõñÇ Ñ³Û»ñÁ,.

ºñ»õ³Ý 1969: 135 et. sq.

31 See J. Black and A. Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia,

London, 1992: 135.

32 Celil, Celil2, op. cit., 329-337
33 The “Black Book”–Mash’afē Ŕaš–is one of the two so-called Yezidi Holy Scriptures.

See M. Bittner, Die heilige Bücher der Jeziden oder Teufelsanbeter (kurdisch und arabisch),
Vienna, 1913
34 See note 3.
35 ². ³ÙáÛ³Ý, Ø»Ýù »½¹Ç »Ýù, ºñ»õ³Ý 2001: 148.
68 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

the healing procedure, collected among the Yezidis of Armenia

and characterised by numerous archaic elements preserved both in
everyday life and rituals, contains neither any appeal to Farxadin
nor any sacrifice to him. He is not even mentioned in the rite,
while the role of the moon itself is obvious. One of the elements of
the rite presupposes that a crescent-shaped pendant cut from a
coin should be worn around the patient’s neck for three years,
“until the moon is completely changed”.36
Mothers used to carry their sick children outside to the new
moon, repeating Yā hīvā nu, tu dāykā zārēyī, az dāmārī, wī zārē
xilāzka ži vī āgirī –“Oh New Moon, you are the [real] mother of
the child, and I am [his] stepmother; rid this child from the
malady [literally ‘fire’]”.37
Malak Farxadin is also believed to be a creator of the Yezidi
religious lore–Qawl-ū-bayt38 That is why the qawwals –the
reciters–are considered Jēšē Malak Faxradīn, qawālē Šēxadī –“the
armies of Malak Farxadin, the qawwals of Sheykh Adi”.39 They
should ask for Farxadin’s permission before reciting hymns: Haka
ži bā Malak Faxradīn bētin dastūre (or īǰāzatē) –“If authorisation
comes from dear Malak Farxadin”.40
The deliquescence and ambivalence of the moon’s nature (and
correspondingly that of Malak Faxradin) is determined, above all,
by the fact that in the folk tradition, the moon is apprehended as
something mystical and even inauspicious. The Yezidis believe
that the moon (Farxadin) is able to bring misfortunes and
calamities to people and livestock, as well as natural disasters–
floods, earthquakes, and so on.
Despite the fact that in many cultures the moon has always
been a worshipped figure, folk traditions never approach it so
unambiguously: its declining from the full disc and complete
waning through the crescent and its waxing again to the
appearance of the disc have always been fearsome for the human
mind, which has preserved a number of negative characteristics of
this celestial body as of something mutable, inconstant, connected
with the powers of darkness, bringing disease and destruction. It is

36Kreyenbroek, op. cit.: 266-267.

37See in detail V. A. Arakelova, “Healing Practices among the Yezidi Sheikhs of
Armenia”, in Asian Folklore Studies, vol. LX/2, Nagoya, 2001: 326-327.
38 Author’s field materials, written down from Gulperi Tamoyan, 40 years old,

originating from the Armavir region, Armenia.

39 ². ³ÙáÛ³Ý, op. cit., 148.
40 Kreyenbroek, op. cit., 218.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 69

no wonder that the moon has always been the object of magic, the
patron of witches and magicians.41 The most infernal is
considered, of course, the phase of the full moon, when, according
to various folk beliefs–Armenian, Iranian and Slavic (as well as
various Western European)–the gates of hell are open and the
earth is overrun with devilry. Clapping the eyes on the full moon,
a Yezidi passes his hand across his face and turns to Farxadin: Yā
māngā Farxadīn, tu ma bēī ah’mē –“Oh Farxadin’s disc, have
mercy for us”.
A Yezidi should meet a new moon by touching his face with his
hands while watching the young crescent. In former times the
procedure included also singing and dancing, which was called
līstikē hīvē –“the moon-dance”. People also let the livestock outside
and asked Farxadin for fertility.
Among the Yezidi sheikhs of Armenia there is a rather marginal
belief, that the moon is also the domain of Sheykh Sin (Malak Šēx
Sīn), that is, Sheykh Hasan–one of the Adawiyya’s esteemed
leaders. This fact conveys the suggestion of the secondary
reference (as in the case of Sheykh Shams) to the Assyrian-
Babylonian Lord of the Sun, Sīn. However, Sin as the Lord of the
Moon exists in the Mandean tradition, and the described
development could exclusively be the result of Mandean influence.
Other variants can hardly be proposed, no matter how strange this
may seem at first sight (as both Yezidis and Mandean have been
closed esoteric societies, which considerably reduces the possibility
of mutual influences). In the Mandean tradition the moon is one of
the seven planets–the creatures of God, each having a spirit in it:
Shamish, Sin or Sera, Nirigh, Bel, Enwo, Liwet and Kiwan.42 The
Mandean Sin is also an ambivalent personage. His power is in
darkness, so by night he can make himself black or white. His
sinister influence manifests itself in men’s behaviour, as he inclines
people to commit crimes,43 his face “is like a cat, animal-like and
black”, and the King of Darkness, pulling men to evil,
accompanies Sin in the “moon-ship”.44 The Mandean legend
refers to sleeping under the sinister light of Sin’s eye.45

41 Ibid.: 170.
42 R. Dröβler, Als die Sterne Götter waren, Leipzig, 1976: 53-54.
43 E. S. Drower, Mandeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962: 252
44 Ibid.: 392.
45 Ibid.: 78-79.
70 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

Šēx-kiās–the Spirit of the Garment

Šēx-kiās is an almost forgotten personage now. He is

mentioned only by J. Furlani.46 His name–Šēx-kiās–can be
literally translated as the Sheykh of the garment (rather, “the
Sheykh of the robe”) (Kurdish kiās < Old Iranian *kÜpa-pāθra-
“protecting a body”). Probably, he was responsible for the process
of death, transmigration of a soul, maybe even reincarnation–the
exchange of bodies like that of clothes. In modern Yezidism the
concept of reincarnation exists only implicitly (and this idea
coexists with the traditional concept of paradise and hell, left to the
Yezidi doctrine by the Islamic derivation). Still, tanāsux
(reincarnation) is one of the basic ideas of some esoteric teachings
in Islam, including heterodox Shi‘a sects, which have much in
common with Yezidism, which in turn could then have acquired it
together with its mystical roots. The absence of any centralised
religious institution, meaning the absence of any official doctrine,
very often allows two opposite notions to coexist in the Yezidis’
world outlook, although sometimes with inadequate representation
in the tradition.
Šēx-kiās could be also an epithet to the name of Nasr ad-din, a
psychopomp and the angel of death, one of the manifestations of
Malak-•āwūs. Then later Šēx-kiās could have been transformed
from an epithet to a separate personage with certain functions.
The garment and clothes in general often symbolise the body
and physical existence; “to take a garment off” is a metaphor for
death, and to change it is a metaphor for reincarnation. The
phrase kiās guhērīn –literally, “to change clothes”–is the denotation
of death among the Yezidis. The Ahl-i Haqq followers, speaking
about incarnation, use the Turkish word dun or Persian ǰāme
(dressing); the Persian be lebās āmadan, literally, “to put on
clothes” means “to be made flesh”.47
It is worthy of note that in one of the Parthian Manichean
mourning hymns, the dramatic description of Mani’s death is
represented with the same metaphor: frāmōxtiš tanβār padmōžan
aβδēn (M5, 63-66)–“And he (the prophet Mani) shed his beautiful
bodily garment (= died)”.

46 Ibid.: 389-393.
47 G. Furlani, “I Santi dei Yezidi”, Orientalia ns 5, 1936s: 64-83, especially 76.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 71

Still, even this is the most conventional metaphor. In

Gnosticism the robe symbolises the primordial self of a person, his
initial idea, his alter ego in the heavens, preserved in the upper
world, while the person himself lives below, in the material world:
“His image (garment) was kept untouched in its place” says the
Mandean text.48
One of the emanations in the Coptic Manichean genealogy of
gods is the Image of Light or the Angel with the Garments of
Light, who comes to a dying man (the fact that Šēx-kiās is in
charge of the process of death is probably assignable to a similar
concept). The Angel meeting a dying man, delivers to him his true
clothes–“the Garment of Light”, thus giving him back his real,
original essence, his heavenly ego.
A very illustrative piece ad locum is “The Hymn of the Pearl”
from the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. The narrative text, which,
actually, can hardly be called a “hymn”, is about Judas Thomas,
who has to leave his “splendid robe” in his Father’s home and to
set out in search of the Pearl (the Gnostic metaphor for a soul, in
particular, the lost soul). Having come home after long
wanderings, the son again acquires his robe, realising suddenly
that it is like his reflection in the mirror:

… my splendid robe which I had taken off,

And my toga with which it was wrapped about,
From the heights of Hyrcania
My parents sent thither
By the hand of their treasurers,
Who for their faithfulness were trusted therewith.
Indeed, I remember no more its dignity,
For I had left it in my childhood in my father’s house,
But suddenly, when I saw it over against me,
The splendid robe became like me, as my reflection in the
mirror;
I saw it wholly in me,
And in it I saw myself quite apart from myself,
So that we were two in distinction
And again one in a single form. …

And my toga of brilliant colours

48 È.Ô. Ìèíîðñêèé, Ìàòåðèàëû äëÿ èçó÷åíèÿ ïåðñèäñêîé ñåêòû “Ëþäè

èñòèíû” èëè Àëè-èëàõè, ÷. 1, Ìîñêâà, 1911: xii, ïðèì. 2.

72 VICTORIA ARAKELOVA

I drew completely over myself.

I clothed myself with it and mounted up
To the court of greeting and homage.
I bowed my head and worshipped
The splendour of the father who had sent it to me,
Whose command I had accomplished,
As he also had done what he promised.
…………………………………….
And I was with him in his kingdom.
……………………………………
And he promised me that to the court
Of the king of kings I should journey with him again
And with my offering and my pearl
With him appear before our king.49

Thus, regaining the heavenly robe means the return to the

eternal home, to the Father’s kingdom.
I would, of course, refrain from drawing a direct genetic parallel
between this Gnostic sujet and the functions of the Yezidi Šēx-
kiās. Still, the fact that Sheykh of the robe is in charge of the
burial rite, and he meets a soul right after a person has just passed
the way of all things and is ready to enter the Hereafter, may
actually reflect the same concept, which once existed in Yezidism,
but was later lost together with the memory of its mystical roots.

There is also another character dealing with clothes in the

Yezidi beliefs–Hazmamān (Hasan Mamān, Hazmamān, Hazil
Mamān), who is also venerated among the Yezidis of Armenia.50
Almost nothing is known about him either.
Hazmamān is as the distributor of caps and dervishes’ robes
(k’ulik and xarqa). He is also called P’īrē xarqa ū k’uluk –the Pir
(that is, “saint”) of xarqa and k’ulik. Being the head of all pirs, he
bears the title P’īrē čil p’īrā(n) (čil mēra(n))–“The pir of forty pirs”.
“Forty saints”, as well as four, seven or eleven ones, being a
popular cliché in the folk Islam, in the Yezidi doctrine has
exclusively nominal representation, without any names or details.

49 Ginza,–apud : Ã. Èîíàñ, Ãíîñòèöèçì, Ìîñêâà, 1999: 132-133. For the full

translation of the text, see Russell, “The Epic of the Pearl” (manuscript); see also “Ãèìí
Æåì÷óæèíå”, apud : Èîíàñ, op. cit.: 124-126.
50 ². ³ÙáÛ³Ý, op. cit.: 149.
 THREE FIGURES FROM THE YEZIDI FOLK PANTHEON 73

Apart from Hazmamān, the leadership over forty saints is

ascribed to Mama Rashan51 or to Pir Dawud (P’ir Dāwūdē
Darmān).52 The latter, considered to be Sheykh Adi’s servant, is
sometimes mentioned in qawls in parallel with Hazmaman. See
the following:

Dāwūdē bin Darmāna,

Hazmamān p’īrē čil p’īrāna.53

This is Dawud, the son of Darman,

Hazmaman, the Pir of forty pirs.

As likely as not, Hazmamān could once have been either the

same figure as Šēx-kiās, or just another personification of the
same concept.

51 Mama Rashan–Māma (Mam)-ašān or Mahmad-ašān–the Storm-god in the Yezidi

folk pantheon, a popular personage of the Yezidi folklore, described as a lion-rider with a
snake-whip in his hand (field materials of G. S. Asatrian and V. A. Arakelova, collected in
the Yezidi communities of Armenia; Archive of the Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies,
Yerevan).
52 Pir Dawud (P’ir Dāwūdē Darmān) is a Yezidi saint, a “loyal servant” of Sheykh Adi.

(see Kreyenbroek, op. cit.: 114-115). It is interesting that Pir Dawud also figures in Ahl-i
Haqq beliefs: he is one of the seven saints–Haft-tan (similar to the seven manifestations of
Malak-•āwūs in the Yezidi tradition). Moreover, Pir Dawud is sometimes associated with
Malak-•āwūs in the Ahl-i Haqq doctrine, and regarded as the incarnation (mazhar) of
Imam Reza–the eighth Shi‘a imam. See Mokri Nūr Ali-shāh Elāhī, L’ésoterisme kurde:
Aperçus sur le secret gnostique des Fidèles de Vérité. Traduction, introduction,
commentaries et notes par M. Mokri, Paris, 1966: 48, 53.
53 Calil, Calil1, op. cit.: 31.