Yazidi Hymns and Religious Poetry

This work opens a space where readers can encounter the traces of their own memory and cultural roots. The texts and traditions included were already collected and preserved in the 1970s. In the Qewl and Beyt – the religious chants and poetic narrative forms of the Êzîdîs – we encounter numerous thoughts, symbols, and signs of the Êzîdî belief and way of life.

The collection and preservation of these orally transmitted texts was a challenging yet valuable endeavor. With great patience and scholarly diligence, Ordîxanê Celîl and Celîlê Celîl compiled and documented these Qewl and Beyt to preserve a significant part of Kurdish-Êzîdî culture from oblivion.

Between the lines of these texts are deep thoughts about transience, humanity, and life itself:

"Even if you dwell in this world for a hundred years –
in the end, one day death awaits you,
O child of man."

And elsewhere it says:

"The world is like a caravanserai,
man is but a merchant passing through.
The merchant does not stay in one place forever,
O child of man."

This collection is thus far more than a literary work – it is an echo of the cultural memory and spiritual traditions of the Êzîdîs and Kurds.