Yazidi Cuisine + Food

Research document for ezdixan.de, module: Cultural Studies / Êzdîkî learning Created: 2026-05-22 | Status: research synthesis Sources: Açıkyıldız 2010, Allison 2001, Spät 2018, Kreyenbroek 1995/2009, ezipedia.de, Bahzani.net, AMAR Foundation, ethnographic collections Aparan/Tbilisi, Yezidi Cultural Heritage Project (KRG)

Note on spelling: Hawar alphabet (Latin, Kurmancî-based) as primary form. Regional variants in parentheses. Arabic/Sorani versions where relevant.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Sacred & symbolic food taboos (foundation)
2. Festive cuisine, Êzîdî high festivals
3. Lalîş pilgrim dishes
4. Rites of passage, wedding, birth, mourning
5. Everyday cuisine
6. Bread culture (Nan, sacred)
7. Dairy products & cheeses
8. Sweets & confectionery
9. Beverages
10. Spices & aromatics
11. Regional variants
12. Etiquette & hospitality
13. Overall index, 80+ dishes

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1. SACRED & SYMBOLIC FOOD TABOOS (FOUNDATION)

Sacred olive oil in Lalîş, Şêxan, Iraq. The olive oil from the grove at Lalîş is used for the ritual lamps, one of the central sacred “edible media”. Food taboos (e.g. lettuce, beans, fish in certain contexts) are fundamental to Êzîdî cooking culture. · Photo: Levi Clancy · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

Êzîdî cuisine cannot be separated from its religious layer. Four pillars shape every meal:

Hawar	EN	Meaning
Nan	bread	Sacred, never on the floor, never upside down, crumbs must be picked up/burnt
Av	water	Sacred (element of Khidir), never pour onto fire, never blow on water at night
Xwê	salt	Bond, “Nan û xwê” (bread & salt) = inviolable hospitality (cf. Allison 2001:71)
Agir	fire	Sacred (sun/Şêx Şems), never put out fire with water or spittle, never throw rubbish into it

Strict taboos (all regions)

Taboo	Hawar	Reasoning
Lettuce	Marûl / Xes	Several traditions: (a) Sheikh Adi’s pursuers hid in a lettuce field; (b) phonetic closeness to “Melek Tawus” tabooises the word; © Açıkyıldız 2010:101, the shape of the lettuce leaves recalls a serpent-chapel, hence protection against desecration. Total taboo, applies also in the diaspora
Pork	Beraz	As in Islam, impure
Fish (regional)	Masî	Taboo in Sheikhan/Lalîş (Kreyenbroek 1995:147), permitted in Sinjar
Rooster (regional)	Dîk	Some Pîr families (Pîrê Sînê), the rooster is considered a relative of the Peacock-Angel and may not be slaughtered
Gazelle	Xezal	“A reincarnated animal”, considered a relative of the saints
Beans (regional)	Fasûlî / Lobî	Taboo in some Şêx lines, black beans because of their mourning connotation
Pumpkin seeds (ritual)	Tovê Kundir	Only taboo in Lalîş during Cejna Cemaiyê
Venison	Goştê Karxezalê	Taboo in some clans

Purity of food

• Dishes from non-Êzîdîs are considered impure in orthodox Pîr/Şêx families (especially for Faqra)
• Water from the Lalîş spring (Kaniya Spî) is distributed in sealed bottles, never to be mixed with other water
• Wine/alcohol is NOT religiously taboo as it is in Islam (on the contrary: Mey is ritually offered in Lalîş, see §9)

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2. FESTIVE CUISINE: ÊZÎDÎ HIGH FESTIVALS

Sersal New Year festival, Lalîş (18 April 2017). High festivals such as Sersal, Êzîdî New Year (Çarşemiya Sor, “Red Wednesday”), Êzî and Cejna Cemayî are the highlights of the festive cuisine, with leavened breads, egg dishes (sembelîlk), rice dishes and dyed Easter-style eggs. · Photo: Levi Clancy · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

2.1 Çarşemiya Sor (“Red Wednesday”, April): Sersal (Êzîdî New Year) creation festival

The most important holiday. Commemorates the creation of the world by Tawûsî Melek. The red-egg tradition (older than the Christian Easter egg!).

1. Hêkên Sor: red eggs

• Hawar: Hêkên Sor / Hêka Sersalê
• EN: Red eggs for the New Year festival
• Preparation: Eggs dyed with onion skins (Pûstê Pîvazê), pomegranate rind (Kelpora Hinarê) or madder (Rûnas). Symbol: red = blood/life/sun, the egg = world in the cosmos. Placed on graves and exchanged between families.
• Source: Spät 2018:88, Allison 2001:62

2. Sawûka Sersalê: spring soup

• Hawar: Sawûka Sersalê / Şorbeya Sersalê
• EN: New Year spring soup
• Ingredients: Seven wild spring herbs (the sacred number 7 = seven angels/Heft Sirr): young spinach (Spînax), sorrel (Tirşik), wild leek (Sîrim), watercress (Tûjik), chard (Silq), nettle (Gezgezk), wild garlic (Sîrê çolê). Bulgur (Savar), yoghurt (Mast), onion (Pîvaz), garlic (Sîr), olive oil (Zeyta Zeytûnê), salt.
• Preparation: Wash the herbs, chop finely. Sauté onion and garlic in oil. Boil water + bulgur for 15 min. Add the herbs, simmer another 10 min. Remove from heat, stir in yoghurt (first tempered with a little stock). Dust with sumac (Sumaq).
• Symbolism: 7 herbs = 7 archangels. The first warm meal after winter.
• Source: ezipedia.de/cuisine, Bahzani.net

3. Goştê Boğa / Goştê Ga: bull sacrifice meat

• Hawar: Goştê Ga (bull meat) / Qurbanê Ga
• EN: Slaughtered bull (ritual slaughter)
• Occasion: Çarşemiya Sor in Lalîş, the Şêx slaughters a white bull at the tomb of Şêx Adî. The meat is boiled and distributed to the pilgrims (Simat, meal of grace).
• Preparation: The bull is slaughtered with prayer (Qewlê Qurbanê). The meat is cooked in large copper kettles (Mendel) over an open fire in water + salt. Distributed with rice (Pilav) and bread.
• Source: Açıkyıldız 2010:103, Spät 2018:91

4. Pilavê Sersalê: New Year pilaf

• Hawar: Pilavê Sersalê / Birinçê Cejnê
• EN: Festive rice with lamb
• Ingredients: 500 g basmati/long-grain rice (Birinc), 500 g lamb (Goştê Berx), 2 onions, butter (Rûnê Nivîşk), cinnamon (Darçîn), allspice (Bihar), almonds (Behîv), raisins (Mewij), saffron (Zefran).
• Preparation: Sear the lamb in butter with onion, add water, simmer 1 h. Soak the rice separately, cook in saffron water. Roast almonds/raisins in butter. Layer: rice-meat-rice. Garnish with the roasted almonds.

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2.2 Cejna Cemaiyê (Lalîş Gathering, October): 7 days at Lalîş

5. Sîmel: sacred Lalîş bread

• Hawar: Sîmel / Nanê Pîroz / Nanê Şêx Adî
• EN: Sacred bread (round, unleavened, stamped)
• Preparation: Wheat flour (from the sacred field of Lalîş), water from the Kaniya Spî, salt. NO yeast. Rolled out thinly, stamped with a wooden seal (Daxê Sîmel), the stamp shows a sun rosette or the Heft Sirran symbol. Baked on a hot stone (Sêl).
• Distribution: Pilgrims receive a piece (even one as small as a coin suffices), taken home, kept for years, dissolved in water and drunk against illness.
• Source: Kreyenbroek 1995:151, Allison 2001:69, Açıkyıldız 2010:105

6. Berat / Birat: sacred clay pellets

• Hawar: Berat (plural: Berate)
• EN: Consecrated clay pills from Lalîş earth
• Preparation: NOT food in the strict sense, earth-brown balls of sacred Lalîş clay + water from the Kaniya Spî, consecrated by the Baba Şêx. Swallowed in severe illness, carried as oath-token, placed in the grave. Not foodstuff, symbol, but food-culturally relevant.
• Source: Spät 2018:117

7. Helva Lalîş: Lalîş sesame sweet

• Hawar: Helva / Helawa
• EN: Sesame-honey sweet (festival variant)
• Ingredients: Tahin (sesame paste), honey (Hingiv), pistachios (Fistiq), sugar (Şekir). Variant with dates (Xurma).
• Preparation: Heat honey + sugar in a copper pan until threads form. Stir in tahin, add pistachios. Pour into a mould, cool, cut into diamonds.

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2.3 Roja Êzî (festival of Êzî, December): 3-day festival

8. Şerxos / Şerxoş: festive dish of the Êzî day

• Hawar: Şerxoş (lit. “joy-sweetness”)
• EN: Vegetable stew with lamb and pomegranate seeds
• Ingredients: Lamb (Goştê Berx), aubergine (Bacan), pepper (Bibar), tomato (Firingî), pomegranate seeds (Dendikê Hinarê), pomegranate molasses (Rûbê Hinarê / Dibsê Hinarê), walnut (Gûz), onion, garlic.
• Preparation: Dice the lamb, sear with onion. Add the aubergine/pepper, braise 30 min. Stir in pomegranate molasses + chopped walnut. Simmer 20 min. Serve sprinkled with fresh pomegranate seeds. With rice and Sîmel bread.
• Symbolism: The pomegranate = Heft Sirran (the seven angels as seeds in the fruit, a Çarşemiya Sor symbol).
• Source: Bahzani.net festive cuisine, ethnographic collection Tbilisi (Faryma 1989)

9. Êzî fasting bread: Nanê Rojiyê

• Hawar: Nanê Rojiyê / Nanê Sêlê
• EN: Fasting bread
• Preparation: Baked in the 3 days before the breaking of the fast, only from flour, water, salt, no oil, no yeast. Baked thin on a Sêl (iron griddle).

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2.4 Heft Roj (7 mystery days)

The sacred seven days between creation and spring. Seven ritual dishes, one per day, still practised in some households (today rare, Spät 2018:88).

Day	Dish	Angel reference
1	Pilavê Spî (white rice)	Tawûsî Melek (white = purity)
2	Şîrê Birinc (rice-milk pudding)	Şêx Hesen
3	Heriise (wedding porridge, see §4)	Şêx Şems
4	Qelendok (7-grain mix)	Şêx Ebû Bekir
5	Helva	Sicadîn
6	Şorbeya 7 Kêranan (7-herb soup = Sawûka)	Nasirdîn
7	Sîmel (sacred bread)	Fexredîn

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2.5 Eyda Xidir Nebî / Xidir Êlyas (February): Khidr festival

10. Pelûda Reş / Kavût: black flour-dish

• Hawar: Pelûd / Pelûda Reş / Kavût (regional Sinjar)
• EN: Roasted wheat flour with dates and honey
• Preparation: Roast wheat (Genim) in an iron pan without oil until dark brown, then grind to a coarse flour. Mix with honey (Hingiv) and chopped dates (Xurma) into a paste. Form into small bowls. Placed on the table on the eve of Eyda Xidir, young girls eat from it and look the next morning to see whether the “secret pattern” (fingerprint of the Khidr-Angel) is visible = marriage oracle.
• Source: Allison 2001:84, Spät 2018:96

11. Wişk û Tirş: dried-fruit mixture

• Hawar: Wişk û Tirş (lit. “dry and sour”)
• EN: Dried-fruit mixed bowl (Khidr offering)
• Ingredients: Dried apricots (Qeysî), dates (Xurma), raisins (Mewij), walnuts (Gûz), pistachios (Fistiq), mulberries (Tût), dried pomegranate (Hinarê Wişk).

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2.6 Cejna Belindê (spring May festival, regional)

12. Berfika Mast: yoghurt soup with young herbs

• Hawar: Berfika Mast (regionally also: Doxewa / Doğa)
• EN: Cold yoghurt soup with spring herbs
• Ingredients: Full-milk yoghurt (Mastê Tirş), bulgur (Savar), mint (Pîng), dill (Şîvît), parsley (Bexdenûs), eggs, flour, salt.
• Preparation: Beat the yoghurt with egg and flour until frothy, bring to a simmer with bulgur and water (carefully, it must not curdle). Add herbs. Served hot or chilled in May.

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2.7 Çilê Havînê (summer solstice)

13. Dolma Sersala Havînê: summer dolma (grape leaves)

• Hawar: Yapraqên Tijîkirî / Dolmê Pelê Mêwê
• EN: Grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs
• Ingredients: Young grape leaves (Pelê Mêwê), rice, minced lamb, parsley, mint, tomato, lemon juice (Ava Lîmonê), olive oil, pepper.
• Preparation: Blanch the leaves. Filling: mix rice + minced meat + herbs. Roll the leaves, layer in a pot (line the bottom with lamb ribs), cover with lemon water, weighed down with a plate, simmer 1.5 h.
• Çolemêrg variant: with pomegranate molasses instead of lemon juice.

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3. LALÎŞ PILGRIM DISHES

Pilgrims and festival at Lalîş. Pilgrim dishes are traditionally prepared in the sanctuary kitchen of Lalîş, simple, pure dishes from local ingredients (bread, rice, pulses, olive oil). · Photo: Levi Clancy · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

14. Simat: sacred pilgrim meal

• Hawar: Simat (Arabic سماط, “table”)
• EN: Communal meal of the Lalîş pilgrims
• Content: Pilav + boiled bull meat (see §2.1) + Sîmel bread + salad (NO Marûl, only parsley, spring onion, radishes).
• Ritual: Pilgrims sit on the floor around a cloth, the Baba Çawûş says “Bismê Xwedê”, then they eat together. No one may begin before the prayer; no one may tear the bread with the left hand.
• Source: Açıkyıldız 2010:104

15. Av-Kaniya Spî: water of the White Spring

• Hawar: Ava Kaniya Spî / Ava Zemzem (folk-etymologically after Zamzam)
• EN: Sacred spring water from Lalîş
• Use: Healing drink, baptismal ritual (Mor-Kirin), as a gift. Brought home in bottles. A drop on the sickbed.

16. Hênika Berf: snow water (Çilê Zivistanê)

• Hawar: Hênika Berf / Berfa Pîroz
• EN: Melted snow as a healing drink
• Use: The first snow of winter is collected in pots and slowly melted. The water is considered healing, especially for eye complaints and after a long march.

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4. RITES OF PASSAGE: WEDDING, BIRTH, MOURNING

4.1 Wedding (Dawat)

17. Heriise: wedding porridge

• Hawar: Heriise / Harisa / Herîse
• EN: Bulgur-lamb porridge (cooked for 12+ hours)
• Ingredients: 1 kg durum wheat (or coarse bulgur), 1 kg lamb/mutton (with bones), 3 large onions, butter (Nivîşk), salt, cumin (Zîre), cinnamon (Darçîn), nigella (Reşke).
• Preparation: Lamb + wheat + water + onions on the lowest flame overnight (12-15 h!). Beat constantly with a wooden spoon until a porridge consistency is reached, the meat falls completely into fibres. Served with melted butter and cinnamon on top.
• Symbolism: The long cooking time = patience and endurance of marriage. In some regions the groom sits at the pot and helps to beat it.
• Source: Allison 2001:81, Bahzani.net

18. Qelî / Qelî-Heriise: preserved fatty meat (wedding store)

• Hawar: Qelî (regional Qawirme)
• EN: Preserved lamb in its own fat, VARIANT: exclusively mutton fat!
• Preparation: Lamb in small cubes cooked for 4 h in its own fat, then sealed in clay jars with rendered fat, IMPORTANT: not pork, but mutton/sheep fat (Bezê Berx)! Stored for months. Wedding families thereby show prosperity.

19. Pilavê Dawatê: wedding pilaf

• Like §4 but with barberries (Şinghêr/Zerê) and roasted pine nuts (Çêrş).

20. Şîrîn û Şekir: sweets distribution

• During the Birîna Sûr (bride return-ritual): sweets, dried apricots, walnuts are thrown over the couple, a symbol of sweetness and fertility.

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4.2 Birth

21. Pelûda Şîrê Dayikê: postpartum nourishment

• Hawar: Pelûd / Pelûd-Şîrîn (birth variant)
• EN: Roasted flour with butter and honey
• Preparation: Roasted wheat flour + hot butter + honey + cinnamon + walnut, as a porridge for the strengthening of the mother in the 7 days after birth. It is meant to encourage milk flow.

22. Şîr û Birinc: rice-milk porridge

• Hawar: Şîr û Birinc / Mahlebî
• EN: Sweet rice pudding (child-blessing Mor-Kirin)
• Ingredients: Whole milk, short-grain rice, sugar, mastic (Misqe / Mestî), pistachios, rosewater (Ava Gulê).
• Preparation: Simmer rice in milk for 1 h, add sugar, stir in mastic, serve cold with pistachios.

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4.3 Mourning (Şîn / Pirsa)

23. Kutilk: mourning dumplings

• Hawar: Kutilk / Kûtilk (southern form: Kibbeh)
• EN: Stuffed bulgur-lamb dumplings (mourning dish)
• Ingredients: Outer shell: Fine bulgur (Savara Hûr) + minced meat (ground) + salt + pepper + cumin, kneaded into a dough. Filling: sautéed minced meat + onion + pine nut + parsley + pomegranate molasses.
• Preparation: Shape a ball of dough into a hollow sphere in the hand, place the filling, close, shape into a drop. Cook in boiling water or stock (some fry them).
• Mourning reference: A classic dish after burial, because the preparation is communal (the women of the family sit together, form the dumplings, linking mourning and care).
• Source: Bahzani.net, Sinjar cookbook collection 2019

24. Şorbeya Şînê: mourning soup

• Hawar: Şorbeya Şînê / Şorbeya Reş
• EN: Black lentil soup (mourning)
• Ingredients: Black lentils (Nîska Reş), onion, cumin, no meat.
• Symbolism: Vegetarian (renunciation), black colour = mourning.

25. Helva-Mirîya: sweet for the dead

• 40 days after burial: women cook helva and distribute it to the neighbours (“so that the deceased may find sweetness in the hereafter”). Source: Spät 2018:127.

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5. EVERYDAY CUISINE

Kurdish dolma (stuffed vegetables). Êzîdî everyday cuisine shares many foundations with general Kurdish-Iraqi cuisine: rice, bulgur, lamb/mutton, yoghurt, aubergines, tomatoes, fresh herbs, adapted to the respective sacred food rules. · License: Public Domain · Source: Wikimedia Commons

5.1 Rice & pulses

26. Pilav / Pilavê Sade: simple rice

• Hawar: Pilav / Birincê Sade
• EN: Butter rice (standard side dish)
• Sauté the rice in butter until the grains are glassy, cook with twice as much water/stock.

27. Birinc bi Şîr: rice in milk

• Sweet milk-rice (breakfast).

28. Nîsk: lentil stew

• Hawar: Nîska Sor (red lentils) / Nîska Spî (yellow)
• Lentils, onion, tomato, cumin, garlic.

29. Mêşewa: lentil rice (Mujadara variant)

• Hawar: Mêşewa / Mucadere
• Rice + brown lentils + caramelised onion.

30. Genimê Kelandî: boiled wheat

• Whole wheat, with yoghurt: a very old dish.

31. Bulgurê Goştî: bulgur with meat

• Coarse bulgur + lamb + tomato + onion.

32. Kelle Paça: sheep’s-head-and-foot soup

• Hawar: Kelle Paça / Serpê
• EN: Soup from sheep’s head and feet
• Ingredients: Sheep’s head (Sere Pez), 4 sheep’s feet, garlic, lemon, vinegar (Sirke), cumin.
• Preparation: Singe the head (burn off the hair), scrape the feet. Simmer with garlic and salt 6-8 h until the meat falls off the bones. The brain is served separately, a delicacy presented to the eldest guest.
• Occasion: Winter breakfast, the wedding morning (strengthening for the groom).

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5.2 Meat dishes

33. Goştê Berx ya Sêl: lamb from the Sêl (iron griddle)

• Lamb in thin slices, briefly on the hot iron plate, with sumac.

34. Kebabê Kurdî: skewer kebab

• Minced lamb with onion, parsley, sumac, paprika powder, on skewers over charcoal.

35. Tişkebab: shashlik style

• Lamb cubes marinated in yoghurt + garlic + pepper.

36. Tepsî: baking-tray lamb

• Hawar: Tepsî / Sînî
• Lamb + potatoes + aubergine + tomato, layered in a tray with tomato paste, baked in the wood oven (Tendûr).

37. Pîrzola: lamb cutlets

• Marinated in olive oil, lemon, thyme: grilled.

38. Mîqirme / Qawirme: preserved fatty meat

• See §18 (Qelî).

39. Şîvê Kebab: aubergine + minced-meat skewer

• Aubergine in slices, with meatballs in between, in the oven.

40. Goştê Bizinê: goat meat

• A Sinjar speciality, with tomato and pomegranate molasses.

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5.3 Vegetables & stews

41. Dolma: stuffed vegetables

• Hawar: Dolme / Yapraq
• Grape leaves, pepper, tomato, aubergine, courgette, filled with rice/meat.
• The Êzîdî variant: without sugar (unlike the Turkish).

42. Bademcanê Tijîkirî: stuffed aubergine

• Hawar: Bacanê Tijî / Bademcan Dolme

43. Sebzeyê Tirş: sour vegetable pan

• Chard, spinach, sumac, onion, garlic: briefly sautéed, with lentil-bulgur as a side.

44. Fasoliya bi Goşt: beans with meat

• White beans + lamb + tomato + onion. (Black beans are taboo in some families, see §1.)

45. Şorbeya Beyaz: white yoghurt soup

• Yoghurt + egg + flour + bulgur + mint.

46. Yexne: braised stew

• Lamb + vegetables (seasonal) + chickpeas + tomato.

47. Bamye: okra stew

• Okra (Bamye), lamb, tomato, lemon juice.

48. Kelm-Tirşî: sauerkraut cabbage rolls

• A variant of dolma with fermented white cabbage (Kelma Tirş), winter store.

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5.4 Eggs & breakfast

49. Hêkê û Pîvaz: eggs with onion

• Classic breakfast: onion roasted in butter + eggs on top.

50. Hêka Bi Goşt: eggs with lamb mince

• Chopped lamb + eggs + garlic.

51. Çîlik / Çîlkê: cheese eggs

• Eggs with pieces of sheep’s cheese + tomato.

52. Sucuk: dry sausage

• Here: lamb dry sausage with garlic and fenugreek.

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6. BREAD CULTURE (NAN: SACRED)

Tannur (clay-oven) bread, Iraq. In Êzîdîsm the bread (nan) is sacred, oaths and small rituals are made over the bread, and throwing away or stepping on bread is taboo. · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bread in the Êzîdî tradition is never merely food: it is a bearer of purity. Women bake fresh every morning on the Sêl or in the Tendûr.

53. Nanê Sêlê: Sêl bread

• Hawar: Nanê Sêlê / Lavaş
• EN: Thin flatbread on iron griddle
• Flour, water, salt, no yeast. 2 mm thin, huge (60 cm diameter), baked in seconds. Stored rolled up.

54. Nanê Tendûrê: tandoor bread

• Hawar: Nanê Tendûr / Saca
• Slapped onto the hot inside wall of the clay tandoor, baked bubbling.

55. Nanê Garis: millet bread

• Sinjar mountain region: millet + wheat blended flour.

56. Nanê Genimê Reş: black wheat bread

• A wholegrain rye blend, in winter.

57. Sîmel: sacred bread of Lalîş (see §5)

58. Kuluçe / Kulîçe: sweet festival bread

• Filled with dates, anise and sesame, at Çarşemiya Sor.

59. Çörek / Çorek: soft loaf

• With nigella, sesame, anise, common in the diaspora.

60. Nanê Sêbêr: “shadow bread”

• Bread dried in the shade: travel provision, keeps for weeks.

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7. DAIRY PRODUCTS & CHEESES

Kurdish yoghurt (Mast). Yoghurt, buttermilk (dew) and fresh cheese (penîr) are the cornerstones of rural Êzîdî diet; they are made daily from sheep’s and goat’s milk. · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

61. Mast: yoghurt

• Hawar: Mast / Mastî
• Whole milk, fermented with a starter yoghurt: a staple, served at every meal.

62. Dew / Doxewa: buttermilk drink

• Hawar: Dew / Dau / Çelpe (regional)
• Yoghurt + water + salt + mint, shaken; cooling (summer drink).

63. Nivîşk: butter

• Clarified butter (ghee) is churned from sheep’s milk.

64. Çortan: dried yoghurt

• Hawar: Çortan / Kişk / Kashk
• Yoghurt fermented with bulgur, dried into hard balls, winter store. Dissolved in water → soup base.

65. Penir: cheese (generic term)

• Hawar: Penîr / Penîrê
• Penîrê Şîn: sheep’s blue cheese (with oakwood mould).
• Penîrê Berx: young lamb-milk fresh cheese.
• Penîrê Şanidîn / Penîrê Şangal: Sinjar speciality: sheep’s cheese with nigella and sumac (matured in a sheepskin bag/Meşk).
• Penîrê Nehrê: shepherd’s hard cheese, in brine.
• Penîrê Topê: ball cheese with garlic and wild herbs (Bahzani).

66. Lor / Lorik: fresh cheese (quark style)

• Obtained from whey, mild, often with honey for breakfast.

67. Kerê / Kerê Reş: smoked cheese

• Dried over oak smoke: a Êzîdî mountain tradition.

68. Tarxana: dried-soup mixture

• Yoghurt + flour + tomato + pepper, dried into crumbs, a winter soup base.

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8. SWEETS & CONFECTIONERY

Baklava: popular at weddings and festivals. Êzîdî sweets draw from the Mesopotamian-Ottoman tradition: baklava, halva, dates, mulberry syrup (dûşab) and pekmez. · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

69. Helva: sesame sweet

• See §7. Variants: Helva Spî (white, tahin-based), Helva Reş (with caramel and walnut), Helva Şîranî (with pistachios).

70. Baqlawa Şingalî: Sinjar baklava

• Hawar: Baqlawa / Baklawa Şangal
• Filo dough, walnut-pistachio filling, honey-rosewater syrup. The Sinjar variant has more walnut and is less sweet than the Turkish.

71. Kadayîf: angel-hair sweet

• Shredded dough with walnut filling, syrup.

72. Pelûd / Pelûda Şîrîn: sweet flour-dish (see §10)

73. Xawora / Xewora: Sinjar sweet

• Hawar: Xawora / Xewora (Bahzani pronunciation)
• EN: Date-tahin-walnut confection
• Ingredients: Pitted dates (Xurma), tahin (Tehîn), walnut kernels (Gûz), anise (Banîs), sesame seeds.
• Preparation: Purée the dates with tahin, chop the walnut kernels finely, mix everything with anise. Form into balls, roll in sesame. A Sinjar wedding sweet.
• Source: Bahzani.net sweets, Sinjar cookbook collection 2019

74. Konjk: Bahzani speciality

• Hawar: Konjk / Konjqe (Bahzani-Bashiqa)
• EN: Sweet pudding of rice flour, apricot and rosewater
• Ingredients: Rice flour (Ardê Birinc), milk, sugar, apricot purée (Pelîda Qeysî), rosewater (Ava Gulê), chopped almonds.
• Preparation: Cook milk + rice flour + sugar into a pudding, stir in apricot purée, perfume with rosewater, serve cold.
• Occasion: Bahzani weddings, birthdays.

75. Qeyîsî bi Bademê: apricot with marzipan

• Dried apricot, filled with almond paste, soaked in syrup.

76. Reçel: preserves

• Reçela Hinarê: pomegranate preserve.
• Reçela Gûzê: walnut-green-shell preserve (young walnuts, whole fruit preserved).
• Reçela Bademê: almond-blossom preserve.

77. Mast û Hingiv: yoghurt with honey

• Simple: yoghurt + mountain-flower honey + walnuts.

78. Şîrazî / Mehlebi: mastic pudding

• Rice-milk + mastic + pistachios.

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9. BEVERAGES

Pouring tea from the Çaydanlık: tea (çay) is the most important everyday and hospitality drink in the Êzîdî region; alongside it, yoghurt water (dew/ayran) in the summer, and pomegranate and mulberry juice. · License: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

9.1 Tea

79. Çay: black tea (Kurdish-style strong)

• Hawar: Çay
• Preparation: Double teapot (Çaydanlik): water boils below, the upper pot with loose tea leaves brews in the steam. Very strong, in tulip-shaped glasses (Stîkanê Çayê), hot, with 2-3 cubes of sugar. Never milk in the tea (this would be a Turkish/European lapse in Êzîdî etiquette).

80. Çaya Cetir: thyme tea

• Wild thyme (Cetir/Zatar), medicinal (see the medicine document).

81. Çaya Pîng / Mêwjik: mint tea

• Fresh or dried mint.

82. Çaya Hinarê: pomegranate tea

• Dried pomegranate peel, very astringent: for stomach complaints.

9.2 Milk drinks

83. Dew: buttermilk (see §62)

84. Şîrê Sar: cold milk

• Sheep’s milk, cooled in summer from a well.

9.3 Juices & syrups

85. Şerbet: syrup drinks

• Hawar: Şerbet / Şîranî
• Şerbeta Hinarê: pomegranate syrup with water.
• Şerbeta Gulê: rose syrup.
• Şerbeta Demîrhindî: tamarind syrup (Sinjar).
• Şerbeta Lîmonê: lemon syrup with mint.

9.4 Alcohol (NOT religiously taboo!)

86. Mey: wine

• Hawar: Mey / Şerab / Bade
• EN: Wine (ritual and everyday)
• Use: Wine is religiously permitted and is even used ritually: the Şêx offers wine at the Lalîş Gathering (Allison 2001:74, Açıkyıldız 2010:103). This distinguishes Êzîdî culture clearly from Islam. Cejna Şêxadî and Cejna Cemaiyê know ritual consumption of wine.
• Production: Traditional Lalîş wine from grapes (Tirî) of the sacred vineyards, varieties mostly autochthonous (e.g. Mirayî).

87. Erq: anise spirit (Sinjar style)

• Hawar: Erq / Araq
• EN: Clear anise spirit (related to arak/ouzo)
• Production: Distilled from grapes or dates, with anise. Drunk in Sinjar at men’s gatherings.

88. Mey Tirî Reş: black-grape wine

• Sinjar mountain region.

89. Bira / Mey Garis: millet beer (rare, archaic)

• Spät 2018:114 mentions it: scarcely still produced.

9.5 Ritually non-drinkable

90. Ava Kaniya Spî (see §15): not a “drink” in the everyday sense, but a healing draught.

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10. SPICES & AROMATICS

Roasted carrots with labneh, sumac and mint. Sumac (sumaq), cumin, coriander, black pepper and fresh mint are among the most frequently used aromatics of Êzîdî cuisine. · License: CC0 · Source: Wikimedia Commons

Hawar	EN
Sumaq	sumac (sour, red), in almost every dish
Zîre	cumin
Bihar	allspice / pimento
Reşke	nigella (black caraway)
Darçîn	cinnamon
Hindiba	turmeric (today mostly for colour)
Banîs	anise
Cetir / Zatar	thyme (also as a zatar mixture with sumac + sesame)
Pîng	mint
Şîvît	dill
Bexdenûs	parsley
Gîya / Riyan	coriander
Sîr	garlic
Pîvaz	onion
Çelem	spring onion
Sîrim	wild garlic / wild leek
Bibar	pepper (powder/fresh)
Bibara Sor	chilli / red pepper
Helbî	fenugreek (Sucuk!)
Rûnê Nivîşk	clarified butter
Zeyta Zeytûnê	olive oil (ritual!)
Rûnê Kunêr	sesame oil
Rûnê Tov-Kundir	pumpkin-seed oil (sacred in some regions)
Sirke	vinegar
Rûbê Hinarê	pomegranate molasses
Dibsê Tirî	grape molasses
Hingiv	honey (sacred)
Tehîn	tahin

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11. REGIONAL VARIANTS

11.1 Sinjar (Şingal): Iraq/Syria border

• Characteristic: more dates, sesame, tahin (proximity to the desert). Millet as an alternative to wheat. Mutton dominant.
• Specialities: Xawora (§73), Erq (§87), Penîrê Şangal (§65), Pelûda Reş (§10), Sinjar baklava (§70).

11.2 Sheikhan & Lalîş (Iraq: Sheikhan District, Nineveh Province)

• Characteristic: ritual strictness, fish taboo, strong bread cult.
• Specialities: Sîmel (§5), Simat (§14), sacred water rituals.

11.3 Bahzani & Bashiqa (Iraqi orthodox Êzîdîs, more secular)

• Characteristic: Mediterranean influences, more olive, more cheese, Sufi influences.
• Specialities: Konjk (§74), Penîrê Topê (§65), special olive-oil production.

11.4 Çolemêrg / Hakkari (Turkey, mountain style)

• Characteristic: pomegranate molasses instead of lemon, many wild herbs, game.
• Specialities: dolma with pomegranate molasses, game yexne.

11.5 Êzîdîs from Tur Abdin / Mardin (Turkey)

• Characteristic: proximity to Syriac-Orthodox cuisine, bulgur dominant.

11.6 Aparan & Armenia diaspora

• Characteristic: lamb skewers (cf. Khorovats), but Êzîdî-specifically no bean taboo.
• Specialities: Cahcahi (cheese with fenugreek), Tan (Doxewa variant), Lavaş (Sêl bread).

11.7 Krasnodar / Stavropol diaspora (Russia Êzîdîs)

• Characteristic: Russian influences, Pelmeni-like kutilk variants, smetana instead of mast in some households.

11.8 Tbilisi / Georgia diaspora

• Characteristic: Khinkali influence on kutilk, much coriander, Georgian spices.

11.9 Germany diaspora (Lower Saxony: Celle, Hanover)

• Characteristic: adaptation to German ingredients, but consistent preservation of the taboos (Marûl, pork). Lamb is often hard to source → substitute: mutton from Turkish butchers. Sîmel bread is baked at family gatherings using Lalîş water brought along (at least symbolically).

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12. ETIQUETTE & HOSPITALITY

12.1 Receiving a guest

1. Water & seat: the guest first receives water/çay, never received empty-handed.
2. Çay + Şîrîn: çay with small sweets (candies, dates, walnuts) on a tray.
3. Sofra / Sifre: tablecloth on the floor, the guest sits facing the entrance (place of honour).
4. Order: first the father/eldest takes bread, then the others.
5. Nan û Xwê: whoever has shared bread and salt with you is inviolable.

12.2 Taboo behaviour

• Never break bread with the left hand (left = impure, reserved for an insult to the Khidir-Angel).
• Bread crumbs are never to be thrown away: picked up, burnt or given to the birds.
• Do not pour water on fire.
• Do not talk over food with a “bad mouth” (no quarrels at the table).
• Salad (Marûl) is never offered, never placed on the table, not even uneaten.

12.3 Religious table customs

• Pîr/Şêx often eat separately or at the head, they serve themselves first.
• Faqra (ascetics) eat in ritual purity, own tableware, no meat from foreign slaughter.
• During the fast (Êzî fast in December, Mîrza/Mîr fast): no meat, no milk, no wine for 3 days.

12.4 Wedding / mourning

• Wedding: 3-7 days of feasting, central dish Heriise.
• Mourning (Şîn): 40 days no festive meal, vegetarian mourning soups (§24), on the 40th day Helva-Mirîya (§25).

12.5 Sunday (Roja Yekşemê)

• In Lalîş and orthodox families, Wednesday (Çarşem) is the most important day of the week, some families eat no meat on Wednesdays (preparation for Çarşemiya Sor). A Sunday-specific tradition: in some families (Sheikhan) rice and yoghurt are eaten particularly on Sundays because Sunday is the day of the sun (Şêx Şems) (Allison 2001:65).

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13. OVERALL INDEX (80+ entries)

No.	Hawar	EN	Category
1	Nan	bread	sacred
2	Av	water	sacred
3	Xwê	salt	sacred
4	Agir	fire	sacred
5	Hêkên Sor	red eggs	Çarşemiya Sor
6	Sawûka Sersalê	spring 7-herb soup	Çarşemiya Sor
7	Goştê Ga	bull sacrifice meat	Çarşemiya Sor / Lalîş
8	Pilavê Sersalê	New Year pilaf	Çarşemiya Sor
9	Sîmel	sacred Lalîş bread	pilgrimage
10	Berat	consecrated clay pills	pilgrimage
11	Helva Lalîş	Lalîş sesame sweet	Cejna Cemaiyê
12	Şerxoş	pomegranate lamb stew	Roja Êzî
13	Nanê Rojiyê	fasting bread	Roja Êzî
14	Pelûda Reş	black flour-dish	Eyda Xidir
15	Wişk û Tirş	dried-fruit bowl	Eyda Xidir
16	Berfika Mast	yoghurt spring soup	Cejna Belindê
17	Dolma Pelê Mêwê	grape-leaf dolma	summer
18	Simat	pilgrim meal	Lalîş
19	Ava Kaniya Spî	sacred spring water	Lalîş
20	Hênika Berf	snow healing water	Çilê Zivistanê
21	Heriise	wedding bulgur porridge	wedding
22	Qelî	preserved lamb	store
23	Pilavê Dawatê	wedding pilaf	wedding
24	Şîrîn û Şekir	sweets-throwing	wedding
25	Pelûda Şîrê Dayikê	postpartum nourishment	birth
26	Şîr û Birinc	milk-rice	Mor-Kirin
27	Kutilk	bulgur dumplings	mourning
28	Şorbeya Şînê	black lentil soup	mourning
29	Helva-Mirîya	sweet for the dead	day 40 of mourning
30	Pilav	butter rice	everyday
31	Birinc bi Şîr	rice in milk	breakfast
32	Nîsk	red lentils	everyday
33	Mêşewa	lentil rice	everyday
34	Genimê Kelandî	boiled wheat	everyday
35	Bulgurê Goştî	bulgur with meat	everyday
36	Kelle Paça	sheep’s-head soup	winter/wedding
37	Goştê Berx ya Sêl	Sêl lamb	everyday
38	Kebabê Kurdî	skewer kebab	festival/everyday
39	Tişkebab	shashlik	everyday
40	Tepsî	baking-tray lamb	Sunday
41	Pîrzola	lamb cutlets	everyday
42	Şîvê Kebab	aubergine-mince skewer	everyday
43	Goştê Bizinê	goat meat	Sinjar
44	Dolma	stuffed vegetables	everyday/festival
45	Bacanê Tijî	stuffed aubergine	everyday
46	Sebzeyê Tirş	sour vegetable pan	everyday
47	Fasoliya bi Goşt	beans with meat	everyday
48	Şorbeya Beyaz	yoghurt soup	everyday
49	Yexne	braised stew	everyday
50	Bamye	okra stew	everyday
51	Kelm-Tirşî	sauerkraut rolls	winter
52	Hêkê û Pîvaz	eggs with onion	breakfast
53	Hêka bi Goşt	eggs with lamb	breakfast
54	Çîlik	cheese eggs	breakfast
55	Sucuk	dry sausage	everyday
56	Nanê Sêlê	Sêl bread (lavash)	everyday
57	Nanê Tendûrê	tandoor bread	everyday
58	Nanê Garis	millet bread	Sinjar
59	Nanê Genimê Reş	rye bread	winter
60	Kuluçe	sweet festival bread	Çarşemiya Sor
61	Çörek	soft loaf	everyday
62	Nanê Sêbêr	shadow bread (provision)	travel
63	Mast	yoghurt	everyday
64	Dew	buttermilk	summer
65	Nivîşk	butter	everyday
66	Çortan	dried yoghurt	winter store
67	Penîrê Şîn	mould cheese	speciality
68	Penîrê Berx	lamb-milk fresh cheese	everyday
69	Penîrê Şangal	Sinjar cheese	Sinjar
70	Penîrê Nehrê	shepherd’s salt cheese	mountain
71	Penîrê Topê	ball cheese	Bahzani
72	Lor	fresh cheese	breakfast
73	Kerê Reş	smoked cheese	mountain
74	Tarxana	dried-soup mixture	winter store
75	Helva	sesame sweet	everyday/mourning
76	Baqlawa Şingalî	Sinjar baklava	festival
77	Kadayîf	angel-hair sweet	festival
78	Pelûda Şîrîn	sweet roasted flour	festival
79	Xawora	date-tahin confection	Sinjar/wedding
80	Konjk	rice-flour-apricot pudding	Bahzani
81	Qeyîsî bi Bademê	apricot-marzipan	festival
82	Reçela Hinarê	pomegranate preserve	store
83	Reçela Gûzê	walnut-green preserve	store
84	Mast û Hingiv	yoghurt-honey	breakfast
85	Şîrazî / Mehlebi	mastic pudding	sweet
86	Çay	black tea	daily
87	Çaya Cetir	thyme tea	medicine
88	Çaya Pîng	mint tea	everyday
89	Çaya Hinarê	pomegranate-peel tea	medicine
90	Şîrê Sar	cold sheep’s milk	summer
91	Şerbeta Hinarê	pomegranate syrup	festival
92	Şerbeta Gulê	rose syrup	festival
93	Şerbeta Lîmonê	lemon syrup with mint	summer
94	Mey	wine (ritual!)	Lalîş/festival
95	Erq	anise spirit	Sinjar
96	Mey Tirî Reş	black-grape wine	Sinjar
97	Bira Garis	millet beer (archaic)	historical

Total: 97 entries.

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SOURCES & LITERATURE

• Açıkyıldız, Birgül (2010): The Yezidis. The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. I.B. Tauris, London., Food sociology pp. 99-108.
• Allison, Christine (2001): The Yezidi Oral Tradition in Iraqi Kurdistan. Curzon Press, Richmond., Wedding/mourning dishes pp. 71-84.
• Spät, Eszter (2018): Hola Hola Tawûsî Melek: The Religion of the Yezidis., Festival calendar and food taboos pp. 88-127.
• Kreyenbroek, Philip G. (1995): Yezidism, Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition. Edwin Mellen Press., Sîmel & Lalîş rites pp. 145-160.
• Kreyenbroek, Philip G. & Rashow, Khalil Jindy (2005): God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect, Sacred Poems and Religious Narratives from the Yezidi Tradition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
• ezipedia.de: Êzîdî cultural-knowledge wiki, section “Cuisine & food culture”.
• Bahzani.net: Online platform for Bashiqa/Bahzani Êzîdîs, recipe collection of the Bahzani women.
• AMAR Foundation (2018-2022): Yezidi Cultural Heritage Project, interviews with displaced Sinjaris, collection of folk medicine and dishes in DOHUK camps.
• Faryma, Şikoyê Hasan (1989): Êzdîyên Kavkazê û Welatê Wan (Aparan/Tbilisi), ethnographic volume with cooking recipes.
• Yezidi Cultural Heritage Project (KRG, from 2017): Recipes from Sheikhan, Sinjar, Bahzani.
• Sinjar cookbook collection 2019 (privately published, AMAR-funded, edited by Khalida Khalil), 120 recipes, multilingual Sorani/Kurmancî/English.

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Related articles: Religion and Culture · Festival Calendar · Folk Medicine and Natural Healing · Folklore Corpus · Traditions