Today, on The Whole World, I’ve been reading about The Yazidis, a small group of Kurds who live mostly in the Northern part of Iraq (the biblical Nineveh), who are currently being persecuted by ISIS, in a really bad way. They remind me Icelanders — there’s only about 500,000 of them: a tight, insular community, a magic people. Their religion centers around the worship of Melek Taus, a Peacock angel, who some outside of their religion perceive to be Satan, hence the persecution.
Religion / Islam / not Islam / Peacock Angels aside, what’s really blowing my mind is: just like Icelanders are descendants of Vikings, and there are remnants of those people and that history within each of them: these people have been preserving their belief system and race and way of life for thousands of years, running uphill to try and maintain their roots in a rapidly changing world. Having grown up with the Bible, I am beyond fascinated by people who are still trying to live then and there, in a simpler, less morally ambiguous time. I don’t know. There is something there. I’ll just leave you with this beautiful little Yazidi girl’s chilling stare.
