BBC News
Sept 23 2004

In pictures: Yezidi Kurds: Life in the wilderness

There are about 200,000 Kurds in Armenia.

Many of them are Yezidis, a secretive religious sect whose unusual
traditions have, unfairly, led to them being labelled
devil-worshippers.

Leading semi-nomadic lives, they spend winter in their villages and,
in April, move to Alpine pastures high in the mountains.

Journalists Ruben Mangasaryan and Mark Grigoryan explored their lives
for BBCRussian.com.

Uncertain origins

Yezidis are an ancient, pre-Islamic sect of uncertain origin.
They worship the “peacock god” Melek Taus, known more commonly as
Lucifer, whom they do not consider a fallen angel.

This is Pusur Uzmanyan, 60, who is the head of the family. She has 10
children and 40 grandchildren.

Like other Yezidis, she and her family live on the edges of the
Aragats mountain range in Armenia.

Taking sheep to pasture

Yezidis maintain a rich cultural tradition, not just in Armenia, but
also in Syria, Turkey and, most prominently, in Iraq.
Each family member has their own duty – men take sheep to the
pastures while the women make cheese and the children help.

Every morning the sheep are taken out to graze – teenage boys can
shepherd herds of 200-300 animals.

“It is more interesting in the mountains than in the village,” – says
Usup, 12. “Here I am totally free.”

Family fun

The Yezidi settlements are the highest in Armenia – up to 3,000m
(9,840ft) above sea level.
The big event of each day is milking the sheep.

The shepherds bring the animals back to the camp, separating them
from lambs and rams and then corralling them.

A man sits by the entrance of the corral and holds two sheep, which
are milked by two women.

The milk is then poured into a vat, boiled, leavened and left to rest
for a couple of hours.

Bread for the family

Yezidi Kurds live in big Soviet Army tents with no glass in the
windows, which are covered instead by transparent pieces of
cellophane.
A family of 10 to 12 people sleeps in each big tent.

Usually, there is also room for a small cheese factory – tubs or vats
with maturing cheese, salt in bags and truckles of cheese.

Here, Marine is preparing dough to make lavash, or Armenian flat,
round bread.

Cheese-making

Pusur Uzmanyan is getting ready to put Chechil cheese, which is
produced from cow milk, into brine.
Chechil is a special sort of cheese without a crust, which matures in
the brine – like Georgian Suluguni or Italian Mozzarella.

Cheese is the main product of Yezidi Kurd shepherds.

Once a week a buyer comes to collect a consignment of the cheese to
sell for the families.

Dinner time

When it is eating time, the men sit around the table first.
The children and women must wait until the men eat their fill and
only then can start eating.

Then comes the turn of the dogs, who eat the remains.

Usually they eat different milk products, lamb meat and, of course,
freshly baked lavash, washed down with vodka.

After the meal comes Turkish coffee or, as they call it here,
Armenian coffee!

Maintaining tradition

Yezidi Kurd children mostly leave school in April, when their
families move to the mountain pastures, although for some the school
year finishes in June.
At school they learn maths and how to speak and write in Armenian.

However, Yezidis remain fiercely proud of their traditions and have
resisted attempts to “convert” them.

This has led to devil-worshipping allegations and, in some cases,
oppression by their Muslim neighbours.