Lalish temple.. life is back to the heart of the Yazidi faith
Shafaq News/ The preventive measures, the curfew and the social distancing imposed after the spread of Covid-19, all led to canceling the Yazidi holy ceremonies of pressing olive and lighting the lamps of Lalish temple.
These rituals are held annually in the middle of March. However, the gates of Lalish Temple were sealed since the eighth of the same month complying to Covid-19 measures.
However, the Yazidis celebrated their first religious ritual in Lalish Temple on Saturday, since the outbreak of Covid-19.
In an interview with Shafaq news agency, Lokman Suleiman, the administrator of the office of Lalish temple, said that “the process of olive pressing begins in December of each year by the temple’s commissionaires and volunteers to reap and squeeze the fruits. As the lamps are kindled with olive oil at sunset in preparation for pressing quantities of olive oil which will suffice the temple for a whole year.”
About the celebration, Suleiman explains that, "The ceremony took place in the presence of the head of the Supreme Spiritual Council, a number of clergy and the temple’s commissionaires and janitors as well as women and men who participated in the process of preparing olive oil”. He also added that, “Health measures were applied in the ceremony as directed by the Ministry of Health. The safe distance was kept between participants and wearing masks and medical gloves were obligatory”.
It is noteworthy mentioning that the Yazidis were reluctant to celebrate other religious ceremonies, such as the Yazidi New Year - which coincides with the first Wednesday of the eastern April- and other ceremonies, in compliance with governmental instructions to close the worship places since last March. However, the government decided to lift these restrictions; considering the commitment to health guidelines during any religious ceremony.
Lalish temple is located in the north of Ain Safni, the center of Sheikhan district (40 km east of Duhok). It includes the tomb of Sheikh Uday bin Musafir, and it is also the residence of the supreme spiritual council of the Yazidi religion in the world.
Generally, the religious rituals take place for consecutive days on the occasion of the Yazidi New Year, with thousands of believers in this ancient religion flowing from inside and outside Iraq to Lalish, the only Yazidi temple in the world.
The Yazidis and all segments of society in Kurdistan avoided major celebrations due to the curfew that is imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
