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A Yazidi shrine, an Iraqi Kurdistan hip-hop group, and a
night in Rania |
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A Yazidi shrine, an Iraqi Kurdistan
hip-hop group, and a night in Rania
30.11.2009
By English Instructors at the American University of
Iraq (Kurdistan region) in Sulaimaniyah
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November
30, 2009
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Well, I’m back. Needless
to say, my month and a half absence from the blog is
totally inexcusable and unacceptable. My punishment
will surely be that this post will go unread as all
readers have abandoned me. Understandable. But in
case anyone is still hanging on for dear life to the
Talibatan or cvdtinsuli, I’ll give it a shot. In my
defense, the reason I haven’t written is because I
am been swamped and overwhelmed by the following:
The only way I could fathom even trying to catch up
on everything that has happened the past few weeks
was by accepting that I would have to summarize
rather than writing as much as I have been about
individual events.
The first event which backed up my schedule was a
4-day trip to Dohuk, a town and province in the NW
of Iraq (Kurdistan region). Dohuk is a wealthy and
prosperous town that has real stoplights that people
obey (!) and limited piles of rubble (!!!) that are
ubiquitous to the region. The apolitical reason for
Dohuk’s prosperity is its proximity to Turkey; it’s
only about 20 miles from the border and hence there
is a great deal of trade. It may or may not have
something to do with the fact that the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) is head hancho there, but to
be honest, I am not familiar enough with Kurdish
politics yet to comment with or without confidence
on this.
Using the city of Dohuk as a base, we traveled to
several high value locations in the region. Lalish
was by far the most amazing place we visited, and
one of my most amazing places I’ve visited in my
life. Lalish is the Yazidis’ Mecca. It’s not a town,
it is a shrine and a compound where the sheikh of
Yazidi faith and about 35 members of his extended
family live. The Yazidis claim that theirs was the
first religion, and that Lalish is the place the
universe was born. It’s old. We were given a tour of
the shrine and compound by the skeikh. (Just to
clarify, I’m talking about the Yazidi sheikh, not
just a Yazidi sheikh, by the way.) Candles – cotton
in olive oil – are lit throughout the shrine which
is massive and comprised of different massive stone
rooms with different purpose and meaning. One room
holds the olive oil,www.ekurd.netwhich
has been made by the same process – this massive
stone vat – since about 700 BC when the shrine was
built. There is also a river in a cave and the tomb
of the first Yazidi on which people thrown colorful
clothes when they visit. Here are some pictures of
the shrines and the compound, inside and out: (The
pictures below include pictures for this entire post
not just Lalish – I apologize I cannot figure out
how to separate them right now.)
(The Yazidis are a dominant group in the
northwest region, a historically oppressed people
who speak Kurdish and are ethnically Kurd but follow
their own religion. In fact, they are reputed to be
devil worshippers)
Afterwards, we were lucky enough to be invited for
tea and then even dinner with his family. We met and
encountered many of the different men, women and
children walking and playing around the compound,
going about their usual activities.
Behind Lalish ranks Amadi, or Amadiya. This town is
well-known because of its location on top of a
mountain:
The Dohuk region is also home to many of Saddam’s
old vacation homes. He liked it for its natural
beauty and cool temperatures. Here is one:
We then traveled north to Zakho, which is only about
5 miles from Turkey and is home to this famous old
bridge:
We had a splendid meal there and walked around the
bazaar. Pretty much the best thing to do in my
opinion in any and all towns here is walk around the
bazaar. You see cool stuff and you get a great feel
for the towns by the people you see and don’t see
and what they are wearing. |
Lalish was by far the most amazing place we visited,
and one of my most amazing places I’ve visited in my
life. Lalish is the Yazidis’ Mecca.
We were lucky enough to be invited for tea and then
even dinner with an Yazidi family.
We then traveled north to Zakho, which is only about
5 miles from Turkey and is home to this famous old
bridge. Photos: http://cvdtinsuli.wordpress.com |
The next weekend was
also stellar because of the AUIS student party put
on by Barham Salih (Kurdistan Regional Government PM
and No. 1 AUIS patron) himself. The night started
out with a performance by a local Kurdistan hip hop
group, which included a student in my Debate Club
and the most well-known Kurdish rapper, Smoky G.
They were actually pretty stinking good. (See
pictures above.)
The rest of the night can only be described in one
way: dance. We danced to traditional Kurdish and
Arab music for 4 hours.
If that weekend was full of dance, the next was full
of food. Last Thursday after classes, a few of us
teachers took off with some students from Rania for
their hometown, which is a couple hours from
Sulaimaniyah. Rania is a beautiful town with a lot
of history. This was the place the 1991 Kurdish
uprising against Saddam began. And as if that wasn’t
enough, we stayed with the student, Paiman, whose
father started the whole damn thing. Her father was
then killed in the 1990s PUK – KDP war, as were the
fathers of two of my students from Rania who were
with us on the trip. As I’ve mentioned before,www.ekurd.netevery
individual here has a story worthy of inclusion in a
history book here. Paiman’s sisters and mother
prepared for us an amazing meal, full of traditional
dishes like pumpkin soup, kooba, shfta, salad, and
soup, among many, many other things as you can see
below. The next day we ate lunch at my student
Zana’s home and were welcomed with an equally
plentiful meal. Here are some Rania scenes, around
town and just outside at the river Doran. (See
above)
In a nutshell this brief summary post brings us up
to today. Two days ago was Thanksgiving, and
yesterday was Eid al Adha. I am on a five day break
from school for the latter, which is the biggest
holiday of the Muslim year when family’s slaughter
lambs and even turkeys here in Kurdistan. What a
coincidence.
Note: I know the pictures are out of order. I have
tried to adjust and fix this for almost an hour and
cannot and must give up before I drive myself crazy.
Dispatches from Suleimani, Iraqi Kurdistan region
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
cvdtinsuli wordpress.com
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