Yazidi facts for kids

The Yazidi (also Yezidi) are a ethnoreligious group with Indo-Iranian roots. They are a separate branch of the Abrahamic religion tree. Their religion blends monotheism with Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Mesopotamia.

They mostly live in the Nineveh Province of northern Iraq. More people are in Transcaucasia, Armenia, Turkey, and Syria. They have been fewer since the 1990s. Their religion is Yazidism. The Yazidis believe in a single god who created the world. They believe that he placed the world under the care of seven holy beings or angels. The main angel is Melek Taus, the peacock angel.

The Yazidis got worldwide attention in 2014. They face religious persecution and expulsion from their ancient home in Iraq by the jihadist Islamic State (ISIL).

Images for kids

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  Yazidi leaders and Chaldean clergymen meeting in Mesopotamia, 19th century

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  “North Iraq, a Yazidi girl“ - picture by Anthony F. Kersting (1944)

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  Yazidi girls in traditional dress

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  Yazidi boy in traditional clothes. In Sinjar, male Yazidis used to wear pigtails.

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  Aziz Tamoyan, the President of the Yezidi National Union ULE in Armenia

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  Yazidi new year celebrations in Lalish, 18 April 2017

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  Yazidi men

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  The Ziarat temple in Aknalich, Armenia

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  Yazidi men in Mardin, Turkey, late 19th century

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  Image from A journey from London to Persepolis, 1865

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  Defend International provided humanitarian aid to Yazidi refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan in December 2014.

See also

In Spanish: Yazidíes para niños