Yezidis partake in olive harvest in holy Lalish town

Yezidis have gathered in the holy town of Lalish in the Kurdistan Region to partake in the annual olive harvest season.

The ceremony is held in late November every year. Many Yezidis from all over Iraq and the Kurdistan Region visit Lalish, offering their hand to harvest olives and partaking in religious recitations.

The picked olives are then stored and, months later, pressed into oil and made into candles to be lit at the sacred Lalish Temple. The town is located about 30 kilometers east of the city of Duhok, in the Yezidi-majority Sheikhan district.

Last year, the ceremony was affected by the strict lockdown measures that came into effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nov. 26 marked the first day of the olive tree harvest event at Lalish, Lokman Suleiman, the head of the office of Lalish Temple, told Kurdistan 24.

The head of the Yezidi Supreme Spiritual Council, a number of clergy members, and the temple's commissionaires and janitors, and many men and women participated in the ceremony, Suleiman added.

As a tradition, men shake the trees, and women gather the olives that have fallen.

According to Suleiman, 566 candles are lit in the Lalish temple daily.

Sheikh Mirza, a Yezidi clergy present at the gathering, said that the ceremony usually lasts five days and brings Yezidis from across the region together.

He added that members of the ethnoreligious community from Bahzan, Babir, Bozan, and Sinjar, and others visit Lalish on those days. "This reminds us of the importance of being united, helpful, and counting our blessings."