Kurds in Armenia

The cultural center of the Kurds living in Armenia has always been Alagyaz

In Armenia only Muslim Kurds are officially considered to be Kurds. There are no more than a thousand of them in the country. The Kurds who practice Yezidism or consider themselves Yezidis by nationality and who are about 40 000 are called Yezidis.

… (مرید). The sheikhs and the piers have always played an essential role in the Yezidi community. It was the clergy that preserved the Yezidi religion for centuries and hindered the assimilation of the Kurd-Yezidis with the other peoples. However, the Alagyaz villagers say that now in Armenia it is the clergy that contributes to the ignorance of the Yezidi Kurds of their religion: the vague answers of the {sheikhs} and {piers} do not satisfy their “flock” any more. Not that they have stopped to respect their clergy, rather their public role has become more of a fiction. Now the clergy does not care even for the preservation of the essential postulates of the Yezidi religion: the inadmissibility of the mixture of the castes and cross-marriages with non-Yezidis. Yezidis often marry Armenians and in such cross-marriages both the Armenian and the Yezidi traditions are preserved. Yezidis are tolerant to Christianity: they go to church, light candles, and worship Christian saints.

China restoring ancient holidays

...vernment officials, laborers and executives alike try to visit distant family members or vacation destinations during those holidays, frequently producing transportation nightmares. The panel’s plans were posted on the Internet for public comment on Friday and in theory could still be changed. But the official Xinhua news agency said the plan was ready to go into place early next year, suggesting that all relevant government agencies had reached a consensus that is unlikely to be altered.

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