Yezidi Inspirations in Contemporary Kurdish Literature.
Magazine: Fritillaria Kurdica. Bulletin of Kurdish Studies no. 3,4, Section For Kurdish Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków March 2014, pp.122-152.
Joanna Bocheńska.

Yezidi religious and cultural heritage has always been an important inspiration for both oral and written Kurdish literature. It is due to the oral and written Kurdish literature, of poetry and prose genres as well as sacred and profane spaces that were interdependent. The motifs and forms of expression were borrowed from each other. This phenomenon was transfered to Kurdish contemporary literature that is now applying Yezidi religious motifs in many different ways. They are direct inspirations from Yezidi sacred texts which are read by contemporary Kurmanji writers and from oral and classical Kurdish heritage which also consists of Yezidi motifs although their origin has to be called (plausible) especially in works which were declared a part of Muslim tradition. There are no doubts that many religious motifs applied by Yezidis were part of a wider Sui tradition of the Middle East. They were borrowed from other religious groups or at least can be considered an application of the diverse religious heritage of the Kurdistan region. However, the unquestionable ethnic links between the Kurds and Yezidis which are based on common language (namely Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish) and the fact that Yezidism was much
more widespread in Kurdistan in the past (Kreyenbroyek&Rashov, 2005: 5) than it is today suggests that this source of inspiration should be treated with due respect and attention. It must be stressed that for a classical or modern writer, language and its oral and written literary products are always a very important subject of interest. [1]