Charsema Sor, the Yazidi New Year, also called Sere Sal and Red Wednesday: the great spring festival of the Yazidi faith, held on the first Wednesday of April, marking the completion of the creation of the world and the descent of Tawuse Melek to the earth to bless it with life, beauty, and fertility; one of the oldest festivals of the region, celebrated with the lamps of Lalish, the dyeing of eggs, and the red flowers of spring, a joyous feast of creation and renewal.

Kurdish Alevism and the Reya Heqi, the Path of Truth: the distinctive living faith of the Kurdish Alevis, centred in the Dersim region, with its reverence for Xizir and the holy beings, its sacred natural sites the jiares, its cem ceremony and ocak lineages, and its deep roots in the ancient spiritual world of the Kurds; one of the great native religious traditions of the Kurdish people, kindred to the Yazidi and Yarsani faiths.

Sacred trees in Kurdish belief: across Kurdish mythology, folk-belief, and the living faiths, certain trees are held sacred as wise and living beings, dwelling-places of spirits, and bringers of blessing and healing; from the wishing-tree hung with cloths and ribbons, to the holy tree of the saint, to the sacred groves once worshipped in the mountains, the sacred tree stands deep in the Kurdish reverence for the living world, a green thread running through the ages.

Sacred water and springs in Kurdish belief: across Kurdish mythology, folk-belief, and the living faiths, water is held in deep reverence as the holy source of life, purity, and blessing; from the springs and rivers believed to be watched over by guardian spirits, to the healing waters sought for their power, to the holy springs of the living faiths, the sacred water flows through the very heart of the Kurdish spiritual world, a life-giving thread running through the ages.

Sacred fire in Kurdish belief: across Kurdish mythology, folk-belief, and the living faiths, fire is held in deep reverence as a symbol of light, goodness, purity, and freedom; from its ancient Iranic and Zoroastrian roots, through the great bonfire of Newroz that marks the victory of light over darkness, to the candles and flames of the living faiths, the sacred fire burns at the very heart of the Kurdish spiritual world, a radiant thread running through the ages.

The Yarsani creation story, the Pearl and the making of the world: in the cosmogony of the Yarsani faith, the Divine Truth dwelt in pre-eternity within a radiant Pearl at the heart of the primal waters; from it came forth the Seven Holy Companions, and the Truth manifested as the Lord God Khawandagar, who made the world and opened the first of the Seven Epochs; an ancient vision of creation kindred to the Yazidi cosmogony.

Sacred mountains in Kurdish belief: across Kurdish mythology and folk-belief, the great mountains of Kurdistan are not merely features of the land but living symbols of the sacred, the dwelling-places of spirits and holy beings, the refuge of a free people, and symbols of strength, endurance, and protection; from holy Judi where the Ark came to rest to the heights bound up with the great legends, the mountains lie at the very heart of the Kurdish spiritual imagination.

The Yazidi creation story, the Pearl and the making of the world: in the sacred cosmogony of the Yazidi faith, the one God first created a radiant Pearl, in which the world lay enclosed for a great age before it was opened and remade into the world we know; God then called forth the Seven Holy Beings, made a covenant with them, and entrusted the care of the world to them, with Tawuse Melek as their leader, a beautiful and ancient vision of creation cherished by the Yazidi peo

The Yazidi Xudans, the holy guardians of nature and daily life: in the Yazidi faith, the one God has entrusted the affairs of the world to a great company of holy guardians, the Xudans, who watch over the elements of nature and the needs of the people; beyond the great Heptad and the famous saints stand many beloved guardians of the herds, the harvest, the household, and healing, such as Gavane Zerzan, Mem Shivan, and Pire Libnan, the protectors invoked in the daily life of t

Kecelok, the clever bald boy of Kurdish folktales: the poor, bald-headed boy hero who, though overlooked and underestimated, triumphs over the powerful and the monstrous through his wit, courage, and good fortune; the beloved underdog of countless Kurdish folktales, the Kurdish form of a folk-hero cherished across the wider region, in whom the small and the lowly win the day through cleverness rather than strength.

Meme Alan, the oral epic behind Mem and Zin: the great folk-epic of the Kurdish oral tradition, the tragic love-story of Mem of the Alan and Zin of Bohtan as it was sung by the dengbej for centuries before the poet Ahmed-i Khani drew upon it to compose his written masterpiece; a beloved destan rich in the folk-motifs of dream-love, the magic horse, and the helper Xizir, one of the seven great epics of the Kurds, carried across the generations by the singers of the tradition.

Cembeli, the prince of Hekkari who became a shepherd for love: one of the seven great epics of the Kurdish oral tradition, the romance of Cembeli, son and heir of the Mir of Hekkari, who for love of the beautiful Binevsa Narin forsook the comfort of his palace to labour for years as a humble shepherd on the high mountain pastures; a beloved destan of love, devotion, and the high mountains, sung across the generations by the dengbej singers of Kurdistan.

Siyabend and Xece, also known as Khej u Siyabend: one of the seven great epics of the Kurdish oral tradition, the tragic love-story of Siyabend, an outcast youth of the mountains, and Xece, the woman he loved and carried away, whose happiness was undone by a rival and by fate upon the heights of Mount Sipan; a beloved destan of love, loyalty, and sorrow, sung across the generations by the dengbej singers of Kurdistan.

Zembilfirosh, the prince who became a basket-seller: one of the masterpieces of Kurdish oral literature, the beloved legend of a prince who renounced his palace and his riches to live a humble and pious life as a maker and seller of baskets, and of the noblewoman whose love he faithfully refused; a tale of devotion, humility, and steadfastness cherished across the Kurdish world and immortalised in the verse of the great poet Feqiye Teyran.

Pir Shalyar, the ancient saint and mystic of Hawraman: the revered holy man of the Kurdish highlands of the Zagros, remembered in legend as a miraculous healer who cured the afflicted daughter of a distant king and won her hand, and honoured to this day in one of the oldest surviving ceremonies of the Kurdish world, a tradition of the mountain village of Hawraman Takht that blends the ancient and the Islamic and is counted among the most precious living heritages of the Kurds

Xidir Nabi, the immortal green man of Kurdish folk-belief: Khidr, the ever-living earth-and-water spirit of the springs and the deep waters, who drank from the Fountain of Life and never dies, appearing in many guises to help the faithful and grant their wishes; a beloved and trans-religious figure, revered with shrines beside the springs across Kurdistan by Muslim, Yazidi, and Alevi Kurds alike, and identified with the prophets Elijah and Ilyas and with Saint George.

The legend of Solomon and the jinn: one of the old mythic origin-stories told of the Kurds, recorded by medieval Judaic and Islamic writers, in which the Kurds are said to descend from the union of King Solomon's handmaidens with jinn, who settled in the mountains; a legend of the kind once told of many peoples, presented here as folklore and myth rather than as history, a curious thread in the lore surrounding the Kurdish people and their mountain homeland.

The Peri, the fairy spirits of Kurdish and Iranic folklore: the beautiful, winged spirit-beings of the ancient Iranic tradition, ethereal fairy-like spirits associated with beauty, nature, and the air, distinct from the jinn and from the demonic divs, who appear in the Shahnameh and live on in Kurdish folktales as the peri, the lovely spirits of the mountains and the waters, part of the shared Iranic heritage of which the Kurds are heirs.

The doctrine of the divine manifestations in the Yarsani faith: the teaching that the one Divine Essence reveals itself in the world through a succession of manifestations or avatars across the ages of the world, each accompanied by holy companions, with the supreme manifestation in Sultan Sahak, a cardinal mystery of this living Kurdish religious tradition and the heart of its vision of the divine and the world.

The Khandans, the sacred spiritual houses of the Yarsani faith: the hereditary holy lineages into which the Ahl-e Haqq community is ordered, descending from the holy beings of the founding revelation, seven established in the time of Sultan Sahak and four added afterward, eleven in all, each led by a Sayyid, a hereditary spiritual guide, to whom the faithful are bound in a sacred bond of guidance and devotion, a foundational institution of this living Kurdish religious tradit