The blessed handful of light: genesis and message of the Yezidi berat

ABSTRACT

The article is devoted to berat, the sacred object of the Yezidi religion. It is a pearl-shaped white pellet made in the holy Iraqi valley of Lalish from the local dust mixed with several ingredients. For the Yezidis, berat constitutes a physical testimony of their connection with the holiest place on earth and at the same time the link with the location that, according to their cosmogonic myth, has been created by God in the heavens and then descended as the first place on earth. The objective of the article is to analyse this sacred object, describe its preparation, discuss its symbolism, and its use in Yezidi religious rituals. Such an approach allows the author to conclude the article with a hypothesis about the origin of the berat and its connection with similar Muslim and Christian objects (turba, hnana, Malka), and early Islamic legend about the creation of primordial Muhammad from a handful of light resembling a pearl. The study, which is the first monograph on berat, is based mainly on the author’s own field research in Iraq, Georgia and Turkey, Yezidi oral tradition and source texts.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank very much Ewa Wipszycka, Dimitri Pirbari, and Peter Nicolaus for their comments and suggestions, which helped me in working on this article. My work was also supported by the National Science Centre (Poland), through research grant No. 2019/33/B/HS2/00397.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ N. Siouffi, Notice sur la secte des Yézidis, ‘Journal Asiatique’ series 7, vol. 20 (1882), p. 262; tr. A.R.

² Ibidem.

³ Ibidem, p. 263.

⁴ The most sacred object of Yezidism, a bronze standard topped with the image of a bird. Cf. P. Nicolaus, The Lost Sanjaq, ‘Iran and the Caucasus’ 12 (2008), pp. 217–251; A. Rodziewicz, Heft Sur—The Seven Angels of the Yezidi Tradition and Harran, [in:] Inventer les anges de l’Antiquité à Byzance: conception, représentation, perception (‘Travaux et Mémoires’ 25/2), ed. D. Lauritzen, Paris 2021, pp. 943–1029.

⁵ Hadims (Ar. khatim, ‘seals’) are bronze sacred objects (mainly rings) also called nîşans (Pers. ‘signs’, ‘symbols’) which are held by Pirs and Sheikhs which the Yezidis believe were not made by human hands, but descended from the angelic world. They are kept in a so-called tûrika nîşana (‘bag/sack of nishans’) and displayed on the occasion of special festivals. Cf. E. Spät, Gifts from the Sky: Yezidi Sacred Objects as Symbols of Power, Tools of Healing and Seals of Divine Favour, [in:] Charms and Charming. Studies on Magic in Everyday Life, ed. by É. Pócs, Ljubljana 2019, pp. 213–235.

⁶ Sacred musical instruments belonging to the group of Qewals (‘hymnists’); cf. A. Rodziewicz, The Yezidi Wednesday and the Music of the Spheres, ‘Iranian Studies’ 53 (2020), pp. 259–293.

⁷ ‘Bracelett’—two-colour armband worn by the Yezidis.

⁸ M. L. Chyet, Ferhenga Birûskî: Kurmanji—English Dictionary, vol. I, op. cit., p. 48.

⁹ I. Joseph, Yezidi Texts, ‘American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures’ 1909 (25), p. 153; M. Lidzbarski, Ein Exposé der Jesîden, ‘Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft’ 51 (1897), p. 595.

¹⁰ Tr. A. R.

¹¹ Cf. Kh. Salih, The Yazidian Religion as a Religion of Canonizing the Elements of Nature, ‘Lalish’ 38 (2013), p. 23.

¹² One can encounter the opinion of some Yezidis (although those with whom I spoke about berat did not confirm this) that berat is also made during the festival of Şevberat (‘the Night of Berat’), understood as the Night of Innocence or Night of Reconciliation, commemorating the mystical revelation given to the Yezidis, when the foundations of their religion were laid. This festival has the same name as the Muslim festival associated with the Night of Forgiveness or the Night of Assignment (Ar. Laylat albara’at, Pers. Shab-e barat). The Yezidi festival is also celebrated on the same moment as the Muslim one, i.e. the night between the 14th and the 15th day of the eight month of the Islamic calendar (Sha’ban).

¹³ The person whose duty it is to light fires at sacred places.

¹⁴ According to Day Kabani, interviewed by Peter Nicolaus, the dust is brought by her from Sheikh Adi sanctuary and berat is produced in the Cave of Berat.

¹⁵ The legend was shared with me by Peter Nicolaus, who recorded it in Ba’adre in 2022.

¹⁶ A. H. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. I, London 1849, pp. 283 and 303.

¹⁷ Cf. J. Guest, Survival Among the Kurds, pp. 223–224; Kh. F. Al-Jabiri, Stability and Social Change in Yezidi Society (PhD diss. at Oxford University), Oxford 1981 [1982], pp. 210–211, 374–375.

¹⁸ Currently, the ceremony is only held in Iraq, although it has previously been celebrated in other Yezidi-populated regions: in Syria, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia.

¹⁹ I. Joseph, Yezidi Texts (Continued), ‘American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures’ 1909 (25), p. 227.

²⁰ O. H. Parry, Six Months in a Syrian Monastery, London 1895, p. 382.

²¹ S. A. Grigoriev, V. Ivasko, D. Pirbari, Lalişa Nûranî, Ekaterinburg 2018, p. 204.

²² Cf. [Isaac of Bartella], Monte Singar: Storia di un popolo ignoto, op. cit., pp. 45–46; Ph. Kreyenbroek, Yezidism—its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition, Lewiston 1995, p. 159.

²³ Kh. Salih, The Yazidian Religion …, op. cit., p. 24. Original spelling. Cf. G. Asatrian, The Holy Brotherhood: The Yezidi Religious Institution of the ‘Brother’ and the ‘Sister’ of the ‘Next World’, ‘Iran and the Caucasus’ 3/4 (1999/2000), pp. 79–96.

²⁴ Cf. [Isaac of Bartella], Monte Singar, op. cit., p. 50.

²⁵ Cf. Quran XLVIII 29.

²⁶ Cf. R. Gleave, Prayer and Prostration: Imāmī Shi’i Discussions of al-sujūd Ýalā al-turba al-Ḥusayniyya, [in:] The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shi’ism: Iconography and Religious Devotion in Shi’i Islam, ed. P. Khosronejad, London 2012, pp. 233–253.

²⁷ Ibidem, pp. 243–248.

²⁸ T. Leisten, Turba, [in:] Encyclopaedia of Islam: New Edition, vol. X., ed. P. J. Bearman et al., Leiden 2000, pp. 673–675.

²⁹ R. Gleave, Prayer and Prostration …, op. cit., p. 241.

³⁰ ‘خاک کربلا قطعه‏اى از بهشت است’: https://portal.anhar.ir/node/947#gsc.tab=0 [13.05.2022].

³¹ Quoted by R. Gleave, Prayer and Prostration …, op. cit., p. 241.

³² Cf. the official website of Ayatollah Hossein Ansarian: Khak-e Shifa, https://www.erfan.ir/english/26184.html [13.05.2022]; cf. آثار و برکات تربت پاک سید الشهداء علیه السلام [āsār va barakāt-e torbat-e pāk-e Seyyed al-shahada aleih al-salam, Works and Blessings of the Pure Earth of Master of the Martyrs, Peace be Upon Him], https://portal.anhar.ir/node/947#gsc.tab=0 [13.05.2022]; Khak E Shifa, The Earth of Karbala, http://duas.org/kshifa.htm [13.05.2022].

³³ D. Boero, Between Gift and Commodity: The Distribution of Tokens and Material Substances at the Pilgrimage Sites of Stylites, [in:] Syriac Hagiography: Texts and Beyond, ed. S. Minov, F. Ruani, Leiden-Boston 2021, pp. 281–339; M. Ritter, Do ut des: The Function of Eulogiai in the Byzantine Pilgrimage Economy, [in:] Pilgrimage and Economy in the Ancient Mediterranean, ed. A. Collar, T. M. Kristensen, Leiden 2020, pp. 254–284.

³⁴ Cf. J.-P. Sodini, P.-M. Blanc, D. Pieri, Nouvelles eulogies de Qal’at Sem’an (fouilles 2007–2010), [in:] Mélanges Cécile Morrisson (‘Travaux et Mémoires’ 16), Paris 2010, pp. 793–812; H. Hunter-Crawley, Divinity Refracted: Extended Agency and the Cult of Symeon Stylites the Elder, [in:] Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World, ed. V. Gasparini et all., Berlin-Boston 2020, pp. 261–286.

³⁵ Cf. D. Boero, Between Gift and Commodity …, op. cit., n. 30, p. 289.

³⁶ Arab tribesmen of the Syrian desert.

³⁷ The Greek name of the Himayrites.

³⁸ Theodoret of Cyrrhus, A History of the Monks of Syria, tr. R. M. Price, Kalamazoo 1985, p. 165 (XXVI 11–12).

³⁹ See: R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus, vol I, Oxford 1879, p. 656. Cf. Thomas of Marga, The Book of Governors, ed. and tr. E. A. Wallis Budge, vol. II, London 1893, pp. 600–601, n. 1; Ch. Jullien, F. Jullien, Du ḥnana ou la bénédiction contestée, [in:] Sur les pas des Araméens chrétiens: Mélanges offerts à Alain Desreumaux, ed. F. Briquel Chatonnet, M. Debié, Paris 2010), pp. 333–349.

⁴⁰ Cf. G. Galavaris, Bread and the Liturgy: The Symbolism of Early Christian and Byzantine Bread Stamps, Madison, 1970, pp. 109–166; D. Caner, Wealth, Stewardship, and Charitable ‘Blessings’ in Early Byzantine Monasticism, [in:] Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society, ed. S. R. Holman, Grand Rapids 2008, pp. 221–242.

⁴¹ The Lives of Simeon Stylites, tr. R. Doran, Kalamazoo 1992, chapters 33–39, 61–64, 71–72.

⁴² ‘Λαβὼν οὖν τῆς κόνεως μου τὴν εὐλογίαν, ἀπότρεχε καὶ ἐν τῇ σφραγῖδι τοῦ τύπου ἡμῶν βλέπων ἐκεῖνο βλέπεις ἡμᾶς’, in: La vie ancienne de S. Syméon Stylite le Jeune (521–592), ed. P. Van de Ven, vol. I, Bruxelles 1962, p. 206 (231, 39–41); tr. A. R.

⁴³ Cf. Thomas of Marga, The Book of Governors, vol. II, op. cit., p. 611 (VI 6); see also B. Leyerle, Pilgrim Eulogiae and Domestic Rituals, ‘Archiv für Religionsgeschichte’ 10, 1 (2008), pp. 223–238.

⁴⁴ Amulet.

⁴⁵ The water in which the relics were washed.

⁴⁶ Livre des scolies (recension d’Urmiah): Les collections annexées par Sylvain de Qardu, ed. and tr. R. Hespel, Lovanii 1984, p. 21.

⁴⁷ E. S. Drower, Water into Wine: A Study of Ritual Idiom in the Middle East, London 1956, p. 62.

⁴⁸ See: Thomas of Marga, The Book of Governors, vol. II, op. cit., n. 2, pp. 43–44; G. Hoffmann, Auszüge aus syrischen Akten persischer Märtyrer …, Leipzig 1880, pp. 222–227.

⁴⁹ Pir Kh. S. Khadir, An Introduction on Izidians And Lalish, Duhok 2009, p. 19; Kh. J. Rashow, Lāliš aus mythologischer, sprachlicher, sakraler und historischer Perspektive, [in:] From Daēnā to Dîn. Religion, Kultur und Sprache in der iranischen Welt, ed. Ch. Allison, A. Joisten-Pruschke, A. Wendtland, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 367–369.

⁵⁰ In Persian a similar word (but with different orthography): marqad denotes ‘tomb’, ‘mausoleum’ and ‘shrine’. However, it appears that the word Marga comes from ‘meadow’ (Ar. marj, Kurm. mêrg). As Fiey noted, Marga is ‘a Chaldean name which means “meadow”, grassy and fertile land, naturally well irrigated’ (J. M. Fiey, Assyrie Chrétienne, vol. I, Beyrouth 1965, p. 225).

⁵¹ The History of Rabban Bar-‘Idtâ, verses 1378, 1412–1413, 1584: The Histories of Rabban Hôrmîzd the Persian and Rabban Bar-‘Idtâ, II, part 1, ed. and tr. E. A. Wallis Budge, London 1902, pp. 260, 262, 274.

⁵² The History of Rabban Hormuzd, fol. 44b: [in:] The Histories of Rabban …, op. cit., pp. 82–83.

⁵³ W. S. Tyler, Memoir of Rev. Henry Lobdell, M.D., late Missionary of the American Board at Mosul, Boston 1859, pp. 215–216; cf. Th. Bois, The Kurds, Beirut 1966, pp. 77–78.

⁵⁴ Cf. J. M. Fiey, Assyrie Chrétienne, vol. II, Beyrouth 1968, pp. 565–609. The Yezidis even lived there for a short period (1782–1784) when the monastery was abandoned (ibidem, pp. 587–588).

⁵⁵ Cf. Th. Bois, Monastères chrétiens et temples yézidis dans le Kurdistan irakien, ‘al-Machriq’ 61 (1967), pp. 75–103.

⁵⁶ On Malka, see: Mar O’Dishoo, The Book of Marganitha (The Pearl): On the Truth of Christianity, tr. Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, Chicago 1988 (repr. of 1965 edition), pp. 58–59; G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. II, op. cit., pp. 161–162; R. M. Woolley, The Bread of the Eucharist, London 1913, pp. 58–78; Mar Awa Royel [Bishop of the Assyrian Church of the East], The Sacrament of the Holy Leaven (Malkā) in the Assyrian Church of the East, [in:] The Anaphoral Genesis of the Institution Narrative in Light of the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, ed. C. Giraudo, Rome 2013. pp. 363–386.

⁵⁷ Mar O’Dishoo, The Book of Marganitha, op. cit., pp. 45–46.

⁵⁸ B. D. Spinks, The Mystery of the Holy Leaven (Malka) in the East Syrian Tradition, [in:] Issues in Eucharistic Praying in East and West: Essays in Liturgical and Theological Analysis, ed. M. E. Johnson, Collegeville 2010, p. 63.

⁵⁹ Mar O’Dishoo, The Book of Marganitha, op. cit., p. 58.

⁶⁰ The Book of the Bee, tr. E. A. Wallis Budge, Oxford 1886, pp. 102–103.

⁶¹ Tr. by Mar Awa Royel, The Sacrament of the Holy Leaven (Malkā) …, op. cit., p. 396.

⁶² E. S. Drower, Water into Wine, op. cit., pp. 57–58.

⁶³ Quoted by R. M. Woolley, The Bread of the Eucharist, op. cit., pp. 49–50.

⁶⁴ Tr. by Mar Awa Royel, The Sacrament of the Holy Leaven (Malkā) …, op. cit., p. 395.

⁶⁵ Tr. by A. J. Maclean, in: Liturgies Eastern and Western Being the Texts, Original or Translated, of the Principle Liturgies of the Church, ed. F. E. Brightman, C. E. Hammond, vol. I, Eastern Liturgies, Oxford 1896, p. 248.

⁶⁶ Ibidem.

⁶⁷ Gospel of Matthew 13, 33, Gospel of Luke 12, 20–21.

⁶⁸ Tr. A.R.

⁶⁹ The Cave of Treasures 1, 3–7; tr. A. Toepel, [in:] Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 1, ed. R. Bauckham et all., Cambridge 2013, p. 540.

⁷⁰ R. M. Woolley, The Bread of the Eucharist, op. cit., pp. 48–49.

⁷¹ X. C. Reşo [Rashow], Pern ji Edebê Dînê Êzdiyan, Duhok 2013, p. 212; tr. A. R.

⁷² Cf. a formula ‘Hey hêvêno ji mihbetê’ (‘Oh Leaven from Love’) in the Qewlê Êzdîne Mîr, st. 6 and 15: (Ph. Kreyenbroek, Kh. J. Rashow, God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 185–186).

⁷³ A. Rodziewicz, Jezydzkie hymny kosmogoniczne: Hymn o Nieszczęsnym Rozbitku (Qewlê Zebûnî Meksûr) and Hymn o Be i A (Qewlê Bê û Elîf), ‘Przegląd Orientalistyczny’, pp. 209 and 213–214.

⁷⁴ Ph. Kreyenbroek, Kh. J. Rashow, God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect, op. cit., p. 67.

⁷⁵ S. A. Grigoriev, V. Ivasko, D. Pirbari, Lalişa Nûranî, op. cit., p. 21.

⁷⁶ Perhaps the ‘King’.

⁷⁷ A. Rodziewicz, Jezydzkie hymny kosmogoniczne …, op. cit., pp. 214–215.

⁷⁸ A. Rodziewicz, Jezydzkie hymny kosmogoniczne …, op. cit., pp. 215–216.

⁷⁹ Cf. A. Rodziewicz, The Nation of the Sur. The Yezidi Identity between Modern and Ancient Myth [in:] Rediscovering Kurdistan’s Cultures and Identities: The Call of The Cricket, ed. J. Bocheńska, Cham 2018, pp. 274-276.

⁸⁰ E. Spät, Late Antique Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition, Piscataway 2010, pp. 422–423.

⁸¹ Ibidem, p. 438; I have corrected ‘soul’ to ‘spirit’.

⁸² Ibidem, p. 425.

⁸³ Ibidem, p. 432.

⁸⁴ Ibidem, p. 426.

⁸⁵ See: E. Spät, Shahid bin Jarr, Forefather of the Yezidis and the Gnostic seed of Seth, ‘Iran and the Caucasus’ 6 (2002), pp. 27–56.

⁸⁶ Cf. A. Rodziewicz, The Mystery of Essence and the Essence of Mystery: Yezidi and Yaresan Cosmogonies in the Light of the Kitab al-Tawasin, [in:] Yari Religion of Iran, ed. B. Hosseini, Singapore 2022, pp. 163–166.

⁸⁷ M. H. Katz, The Birth of The Prophet Muhammad: Devotional Piety in Sunni Islam, London-New York 2007, p. 16.

⁸⁸ Ibidem, p. 20.

⁸⁹ [Al-Tha’labi], ‘Ara’is al-majalis fi qisas al-anbiya’ or ‘Lives of the Prophets’, tr. W. M. Brinner, Leiden 2002, p. 44.

⁹⁰ As reported by Abu Ishaq al-Tha’labi (d. 1035), ‘the narrators have told (…) that (…) the first part of the Earth to appear on the face of the water was Mecca, and God spread out the Earth below it’ ([Al-Tha’labi], ‘Ara’is al-majalis fi qisas al-anbiya’ or ‘Lives of the Prophets’, tr. W. M. Brinner, Leiden 2002, p. 6); see: A. J. Wensinck, The Ideas of the Western Semites Concerning the Navel of the Earth, Amsterdam 1916.:

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Funding

This work was supported by the Narodowe Centrum Nauki [2019/33/B/HS2/00397].