A Celebration of Xêr: Documenting and Preserving Yazidi Cultural Heritage

October 20, 2022 / 12:00 pm

Meet Dr. Makrina Finlay, a Benedictine nun who leads the Yazidi church asylum program at her monastery in Germany.

Approximately 400,000 Yazidis fled Shingal (Sinjar in Arabic) at the height of the ISIS invasion in 2014, and 10,000 more Yazidis were either killed or enslaved. Although this genocide sent shockwaves through the world, the community is keenly aware that these are only the latest in a long line of genocidal attacks.

Yazidi identity has withstood these grave injustices with help from the concept and practice of xêr, which is akin to what we call “blessing”. Until recently, Yazidis have not needed to define or articulate xêr and it has also never been studied by anyone outside the Yazidi community.

Dr. Finlay will introduce Yazidism, explain the practice of xêr, and describe API's project to preserve this important piece of Yazidi heritage.