Editing Kurds (section)

===Yazidism===
{{Main|Yazidis|Yazidism}}
 
[[File:Pilgrims and festival at Lalish on the day of the Ezidi New Year in 2017 22.jpg|thumb|Yazidi new year celebrations in [[Lalish]], 18 April 2017]]
Yazidism is a [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] [[ethnic religion]] with roots in a western branch of an [[Ancient Iranian religion|Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion.]]<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Turgut|first=Lokman|title=Ancient rites and old religions in Kurdistan|oclc=879288867}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Foltz|first=Richard|date=2017-06-01|title=The "Original" Kurdish Religion? Kurdish Nationalism and the False Conflation of the Yezidi and Zoroastrian Traditions|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/18747167-12341309|journal=Journal of Persianate Studies|volume=10|issue=1|pages=87–106|doi=10.1163/18747167-12341309|issn=1874-7094}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|first=Omarkhali|last=Khanna|title=The status and role of the Yezidi legends and myths : to the question of comparative analysis of Yezidism, Yārisān (Ahl-e Haqq) and Zoroastrianism: a common substratum?|date=2011|oclc=999248462}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Kreyenbroek|first=Philip G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTQqAQAAMAAJ&q=Ancient+iranian|title=Yezidism—its Background, Observances, and Textual Tradition|date=1995|publisher=E. Mellen Press|isbn=978-0-7734-9004-8|language=en}}</ref> It is based on the belief of one God who created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven Holy Beings.<ref name="Allison 2017">{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Yazidis|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=[[Oxford]]|url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-254|access-date=15 May 2021|date=25 January 2017|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.254|isbn=9780199340378|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311065225/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-254|archive-date=11 March 2019|author-last=Allison|author-first=Christine|doi-access=free|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|first=Açıkyıldız|last=Birgül|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/772844849|title=The Yezidis : the History of a Community, Culture and Religion.|date=2010|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-0-85772-061-0|location=London|oclc=772844849}}</ref> The leader of this heptad is [[Tawûsê Melek]], who is symbolized with a [[Peafowl|peacock]].<ref name="Allison 2017"/><ref name="Maisel">{{Cite book|last=Maisel|first=Sebastian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFgIDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|title=Yezidis in Syria: Identity Building among a Double Minority|date=2016-12-24|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9780739177754|language=en}}</ref> Its adherents number from 700,000 to 1 million worldwide<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rowe|first=Paul S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOF1DwAAQBAJ&dq=yezidis+number&pg=PT807|title=Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East|date=2018-09-20|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-23378-7|language=en}}</ref> and are indigenous to the [[Kurdistan|Kurdish regions]] of [[Iraq]], [[Syria]] and [[Turkey]], with some significant, more recent communities in Russia, [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Armenia]] established by refugees fleeing persecution by Muslims in [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name=":1" /> [[Yazidism]] shares with [[Kurdish Alevism]] and [[Yarsanism]] many similar qualities that date back to the pre-Islamic era.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bozarslan|first1=Hamit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXgnEAAAQBAJ|title=The Cambridge History of the Kurds|last2=Gunes|first2=Cengiz|last3=Yadirgi|first3=Veli|date=2021-04-22|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-58301-5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Omarkhali|first=Khanna|date=January 2009|title=The status and role of the Yezidi legends and myths. To the question of comparative analysis of Yezidism, Yārisān (Ahl-e Haqq) and Zoroastrianism: a common substratum?|url=https://www.academia.edu/7918305|journal=Folia Orientalia|issn=0015-5675|oclc=999248462}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Turgut|first=Lokman|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/879288867|title=Ancient rites and old religions in Kurdistan|date=2013|language=English|oclc=879288867}}</ref>