Yezids celebrate Sun Day today

While the Christian world is amid Christmas preparations and celebrations these days, Yezids around the globe mark today their national holiday called the Sun Day.

Later this winter, they are going to celebrate another feast known as Khdyr Name, its date coinciding with the Armenians’ St. Sargis Holiday, Aziz Tamoyan, the head of the Yezids World Council, told Tert.am.

As for Yezids’ national new year, Malake Tausi, it is a movable feast celebrated in spring. People traditionally visit cemeteries that day, following the common belief that the deceased rise from the dead on the Wednesday marking the year-end in their calendar. They go there with previously prepared food to pronounce prayers and wish happy holidays to one another, including the dead.

But Tamoyan says they also celebrate the traditional New Year marked in the Christian calendar. Like the Armenians, they too lay tables and visit friends, relatives and neighbors.

On December 21, the Yezids celebrated the Red Sultan Day, their most favorite feast preceding a fasting period for the deceased and their forefather. It is a necessary custom on that day to visit relatives who lost a family member, while those who have quarreled are required to reconcile with one another not to be considered non-Yezids.