Yezidis usher in New Year at Lalish with candles

Men, women, and children of the ethno-religious Yezidi minority group gather at their holy Temple of Lalish in Duhok province, Kurdistan Region, on Tuesday evening.

On Chwarshama Sur – Red Wednesday – hundreds of Yezidis don traditional clothes to mark the day Tawuse Melek, the Peacock Angel, who is God's representative on Earth, descended on the holy site to bless the earth with fertility and renewal.

Yezidis traditionally light candles to commemorate the arrival of light into the world during the new year celebrations.

Iraq, with the assistance of the United Nations, has begun exhuming mass graves believed to hold the remains of hundreds of Yezidis executed by ISIS. Dozens of Yezidi women and children have been found in northern Syria after the military defeat of the group and are expected to be reunited with their families soon. But the fate of 2,992 Yezidis are still unknown, according to the most recent figures from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s office of Yezidi affairs. 

Photos: Safin Hamed | AFP