The Sanjak (Senceq) and the Tawisgêran Procession

The Sanjak (Kurmanji Senceq, also Sancak, Sinjaq; popularly also Tawis / Tawûs, “peacock”) is the most important material cult object of the Êzîdî: a cast peacock effigy of bronze (or brass or copper) on a candelabrum- or lamp-stand, which symbolically represents the highest angel Tawûsî Melek. For centuries these sacred figures were carried in a ritual circuit, the Tawisgêran (“the carrying-around of the peacock”, also Tawûsgêran, Parading of the Peacock), by professional hymn-singers (Qewwal) from village to village. In this way they bound the geographically far-flung community to the sacred centre Lalîş and to the authority of the religious-secular head, the Mîr.

This article deals with the material culture of Êzîdîsm, a field that long remained underexposed in the literature and was systematically opened up only through the work of Eszter Spät (“Materializing Memory”) and Birgül Açıkyıldız.

Important note first: The peacock (tawûs) is in Êzîdîsm a sacred light-symbol for Tawûsî Melek, the faithful vicegerent of the one God Xwedê. He is never understood as “Devil”, “Iblis” or “Şeytan”, this equation is a refuted foreign slander (see Tawûsî Melek). The bronze Sanjak, too, is no “idol” and no worshipped deity, but a symbol and a link to the transcendent divine reality.

1. What is a Sanjak / Senceq?

The word sancak (Ottoman Turkish “standard, banner, ensign”, later also an administrative unit) denotes in the Êzîdî context at once two connected things:

1. the bronze peacock effigy itself, a bird-shaped effigy, often mounted on a multi-tiered candelabrum or candle-stand;
2. an Êzîdî region or cult district to which such an effigy was assigned (see Section 2).

According to tradition, Tawûsî Melek himself is said to have created the figures “in his image as a peacock” out of brass or copper; another tradition has the Êzîdî bring the seven Sanjaks with them from their mythical original homeland (Spät 2017; peacock-angel.org). From the perspective of religious studies, the surviving figures are cast metalwork of considerable age, whose exact dating, however, remains unsecured.

The most important and most sacred figure bears the name Anzal (also Enzel, “the most ancient one”). It is assigned to the central district Şêxan and thus directly to Lalîş, and is shown to the pilgrims at the great autumn feast Cejna Cemaiyê (Spät 2017; Kreyenbroek & Rashow 2005). (On the reading “the ancient one” see also the entry in Mythology + Symbolism.)

1.1 Materiality and Iconography

The Sanjaks are made of bronze, brass or copper. Characteristic is the stylized peacock form, an upright standing bird, often with a fanned or tightened tail –, mounted on a column- or lamp-like base with several rings or discs. In ritual use the figure was wrapped in precious cloths and shown only partially unveiled. The peacock form points to the same light-symbolism as the plumage of the living peacock: divine light, beauty, purity and the fullness of creation (Açıkyıldız 2010; cf. Êzîdî flag + symbols).

The exact original form of the effigies is hard to reconstruct, because only few figures survive and have for centuries not been accessible to the broad public at all. Early Western descriptions, for instance by Austen Henry Layard in the 19th century, contributed on the one hand to their fame, on the other to the entrenchment of the false “devil-worshipper” label (cf. Forgeries + Slanders).

2. The Seven Sanjaks and Their Regions

According to tradition there were originally seven Sanjaks: corresponding to the seven holy angels (Heft Sirr) and at the same time to the seven Êzîdî cult districts, which were likewise called sancak. These districts covered the historical settlement area of the Êzîdî: from Şingal in Iraq via Aleppo in Syria to north-west Iran and into the Caucasus (Spät 2017; Açıkyıldız 2010).

The following assignment summarizes the list, most frequently named in the literature and in Êzîdî sources, of the seven effigies and their territories. Note on the source situation: spellings, number and assignment fluctuate between the sources; individual names are not consistently attested in the academic literature but rest in part on Êzîdî self-statements and overview presentations. The table is therefore to be read as a traditional assignment with reservation.

Sources for this list: overview presentations based on Açıkyıldız (2010) as well as Êzîdî sources (ÊzîdîPress; ezidikhan.net; peacock-angel.org). An older, slightly diverging listing of the “seven Sanjak regions” from 1911 names: Şêxan, Şingal, Aleppo, Khatta (Mardin/Diyarbakır), Zozan (Tigris/Batman/Şırnak), Haweri (Cizîr) and Moscow (Transcaucasia), the shifts show how strongly the assignment depends on the respective era and source.

3. The Tawisgêran: “the Carrying-Around of the Peacock”

The Tawisgêran (also Tawûsgêran) was the central ritual in which the Sanjak unfolded its binding function. In this procession the Qewwal carried the peacock figure through the Êzîdî areas, from village to village, from house to house. The figure was venerated, donations were collected, sermons were held and sacred hymns were recited (Spät 2017; Wikipedia Tawûsgeran after Kreyenbroek 2009 / Maisel 2016).

3.1 The Qewwal as Bearers

Bearers and reciters were the Qewwal (from qewl, “word/speech”), the professional hymn-singers and “masters of the word”, who are at the same time the most important living preservers of the orally transmitted religion (cf. Qewl, the oral sacred tradition). They traditionally come from the twin villages Başîqa (Beşîqe) and Bahzanê (Behzanê) near Mosul and belong to two groups: the Dimlî and the Tazhî (Spät 2017; Kreyenbroek 1995). This assignment is consistent with the Êzîdî religious canon and the caste structure (see Êzîdî clergy).

The selection of the Qewwal was as religiously as politically significant: they were the main link through which the Mîr in Şêxan maintained and consolidated his religious-political authority also among the far-distant settled communities (Spät 2017).

3.2 Course and Sacred Objects Carried Along

On their round the Qewwal carried with the Sanjak a series of consecrated objects (Spät 2017; Kurdistan24 2024):

• Holy water from the “White Spring” (Kaniya Spî / Sherbik) in Lalîş;
• Berat: small lumps of holy earth of the Lalîş valley formed into pellets, which were distributed as a blessing;
• a sacred candle.

During the visits hymns (Qewl) were sung, sermons on selected religious themes were held and communal meals were taken. The faithful venerated the figure, offered donations and in return received consecrated water and Berat. The greater part of the gathered gifts flowed to the Mîr and served the upkeep of the religious institutions (Spät 2017).

The frequency of the visits was staggered: Sanjaks of the central regions toured two to three times a year, more remote districts were reached only once a year or even more rarely (Spät 2017).

3.3 Materialized Memory

Eszter Spät interprets the Sanjak and the Tawisgêran as the “materialized memory” (materializing memory) of the community: in a predominantly oral, scripture-poor religion the wandering effigy tangibly embodies the religious unity, the connection to Lalîş and the continuity of the tradition. The object makes the abstract sacred centre physically experiencable for remote villages and thus creates cohesion across distances (Spät 2017).

4. Decline and Interruption of the Practice

The Tawisgêran was strongly curtailed by a chain of historical ruptures:

• Confiscation 1892: During a violent anti-Êzîdî campaign (connected with the Ottoman governor Omar Wehbi Pasha) five of the Sanjaks kept in Lalîş were taken as booty and brought to Baghdad (Spät 2017; YezidiTruth; peacock-angel.org). Êzîdî sources count this campaign among the Fermane (waves of persecution; cf. Fermane chronicle, if available).
• New state borders after the First World War: The division of the region between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the Soviet Union cut through the old routes. The peacock could no longer reach many communities beyond the borders; already in the 1920s only three figures were touring (Spät 2017).
• Persecution and security situation: Attacks and general insecurity repeatedly interrupted the rounds. The Anzal figure at times no longer toured because of terror danger.
• Genocide 2014 (IS): The assault of the so-called “Islamic State” on Şingal in August 2014, mass murder, enslavement, expulsion, struck the core area of one of the Sanjaks and brought religious life to a large-scale standstill (cf. Şingal, if available).
• Modernization and change: In modernized areas (such as the autonomous region of Kurdistan from 1991) the practice partly declined, parallel to the general transition from oral to written religious tradition (Spät 2017).

5. Surviving Sanjaks and Revival Today

Of the originally seven figures, today only few are regarded as surviving and in use. Consistently named are (Spät 2017; Kurdistan24 2024):

• Tawisa Anzal: the holiest figure, assigned to the Şêxan district; tours communities in Şêxan, Tel Kêf, Duhok as well as Başîqa and Bahzanê;
• Tawisa Şingalê: assigned to the Sinjar area and villages near Zaxo;
• Tawisa Helebê (Aleppo): for the Êzîdî places in Syria.

For further figures (such as the Aleppo or Diyarbakır Sanjaks) there exist contradictory statements; essentially secured is the continued existence of the two Iraqi main figures (Şêxan and Şingal). The remaining ones are regarded as lost, destroyed or confiscated.

In more recent times there are revivals: in 2024 Kurdistan24 reported that the annual “Tawus tour” had again moved through Êzîdî villages of Duhok province, after a pause of several years, which triggered great joy in the communities. Qewwal led the procession, recited religious texts, handed out Sherbik (consecrated water of the White Spring) and distributed Berat and candles (Kurdistan24 2024). Such resumptions show that the Tawisgêran, despite all ruptures, continues as a living tradition and remains identity-forming.

6. Correct Terms (Conventions)

Sources

• Eszter Spät: “Materializing Memory, The Role of the Yezidi Peacock Sanjak”, in: Materializing Memory, Archaeological Material Culture and the Semantics of the Past (Archaeopress, Oxford). PDF: academia.edu
• Eszter Spät: “The Sanjak of the Peacock Angel” (CEU). personal.ceu.hu
• Birgül Açıkyıldız: The Yezidis, The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. London: I. B. Tauris, 2010.
• Philip G. Kreyenbroek: Yezidism, Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995.
• Philip G. Kreyenbroek & Khalil Jindy Rashow: God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect, Sacred Poems and Religious Narratives from the Yezidi Tradition. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005.
• Khanna Omarkhali: The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017.
• Encyclopædia Iranica, article “Yazidis” (online). iranicaonline.org
• Wikipedia: “Tawûsgeran”. en.wikipedia.org
• “The Sacred Journey of Tawus Tour: Reviving Ancient Yezidi Traditions”, Kurdistan24, 2024. kurdistan24.net
• “Reincarnation, the Sanjak, and an ancient Yezidi prophecy”, peacock-angel.org. peacock-angel.org
• ÊzîdîPress: “Représentations yezidies et symboles nationaux” (on the list of the seven Tawis regions). ezidipress.com

Note: The number, naming and regional assignment of the seven Sanjaks (Section 2) varies according to source and era; diverging lists and uncertain assignments are expressly marked as such in the text and are not to be read as secured facts.

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