The peacock tour brings sacred objects, recitation and guidance into Yazidi villages. Research explains its water, lamps and clay blessings; dated reports show both renewed visits in 2024 and postponement in April 2026.
A tour combining religious and social responsibilities
Tawûsgêran, also written Tawusgeran, is commonly explained as the wandering or carrying around of the sacred peacock. Yazda’s cultural preservation project calls the practice Gara Tawuse and describes a twice-yearly tradition linking visits to Yazidi villages with interpretation of religious texts, guidance and attention to social problems. [1] The peacock standard gives the tour its visible focus, but the institution includes people meeting, listening and renewing obligations. It brings religious knowledge into local settings rather than requiring every encounter to take place at Lalish.
The sanjak is a sacred object with a history
The metal standard, known as sanjak or sinceq, represents Tawûsî Melek. In his 2018 essay, Martin van Bruinessen discusses nineteenth-century accounts of seven standards associated with different settlement zones. He also compares the differing drawings published by Layard and Badger, and distinguishes the sacred standards from peacock-shaped oil lamps encountered elsewhere. [2] Appearance alone does not establish an object’s ritual identity. Nor should a traditional count of seven be treated as a verified inventory of surviving standards today, or a fixed one-to-one assignment to seven separate angels.
Qewwals carry teaching through performance
The qewwals are trained transmitters of sacred hymns. Kreyenbroek describes hereditary reciter families and other religious leaders with knowledge of qewls, their melodies and interpretation. Daf and şebab accompany hymns at religious functions. [3] In the context of the tour, recitation is therefore more than background music: words, melody and explanation make religious teaching audible. Describing Yazidism as simply a faith “without scripture” misses the disciplined preservation and interpretation of its sacred textual tradition.
Water, lamps and berat have distinct roles
Aysif’s study describes bringing the standard to Lalish for sprinkling with water from Kaniya Spî, citing a July 2015 interview with the spring’s custodian. Water is carried in a şerbik, or jar. Seven lights beside the standard are called lamps of knowledge. Berat distributed during the tour are sacred clay balls associated with holy earth and water, not ordinary stones gathered at random. [4] These details connect the travelling observance to material elements of Lalish. They should be understood as a documented account of practice, rather than a mandatory sequence asserted for every community and period.
A recorded return to Ba’adre in 2024
Kurdistan24’s report of 1 June 2024 describes a tour through communities in Duhok province, ending at Ba’adre. Its account includes incense, flute and tambourine music, a household chosen to host the standard, shared food and religious guidance. A participant, Daye Fato, recalled that it had not come for several years and described people gathering for an evening meal. [5] This gives the return a local history: a particular visit mattered because it re-established a gathering people remembered. The article’s claim of more than a thousand years of antiquity is not needed to understand that significance.
A continuing institution can also be interrupted
On 14 April 2026, SyriacPress reported that Yazidi leadership had suspended that year’s New Year ceremonies at Lalish and postponed the Tawus al-Sanjaq tour following a Supreme Spiritual Council meeting. [6] This is a dated report of postponement, not evidence that every later tour was cancelled or that the institution ended. Together, the 2024 and April 2026 reports show why continuation and interruption both belong in its recent history. The tour is connected with the religious calendar, but it should not be collapsed into the New Year festival itself.
Sources and further reading
- Yazda, “Yazidi Cultural Preservation”, episode 20, “Gara Tawuse – A Tour of Religious Guidance and Problem Solving”: community project’s account of the tour.
- Martin van Bruinessen, “Following the Trail of a Peacock”, part 1, NUS Middle East Institute, 2 August 2018: sanjak, historical drawings and distinction from lamps.
- Philip G. Kreyenbroek, “Qawl”, Encyclopaedia Iranica (2002): sacred hymns, reciters, melodies, interpretation and instruments.
- Rezan Shivan Aysif, The Role of Nature in Yezidism (2021), pp. 212–214: touring practice, Kaniya Spî water, şerbik, lamps and berat.
- Kurdistan24, “The Sacred Journey of Tawus Tour”, 1 June 2024: Ba’adre visit, hosting, music, meals and participant accounts.
- SyriacPress, 14 April 2026: report of the Supreme Spiritual Council decision to suspend New Year ceremonies and postpone the tour.