Often derided by their Muslim neighbours as peacock-loving, lettuce-dodging devil worshippers, the Yazidi are one of Iraq’s more ancient and mysterious sects whose beliefs have long been misunderstood and maligned by the uninitiated.

From their base in a 1,000-year-old former monastery at Lalish, near the northern city of Mosul, the Yazidi have kept alight traditions that date back at least to the days of Zoroaster about 2,500 years ago. Throughout the ages their beliefs have mingled with the credos of their neighbours, especially Muslims, adding to misunderstandings about what they really believe.

The Yazidis are mainly Kurds, spread out in villages across northern Iraq and around Lalish. The temple is leased out each year to a different family, who are entrusted to maintain the leafy courtyards and smoke- blackened halls in good order, while taking whatever surplus profits are made from the pilgrim trade.

The entrance to the sanctuary is adorned with a large black snake carved next to the stone portal, said to represent the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Few are allowed to enter the precincts, although The Times was granted access in November 2005 for a rare viewing.

On one of the walls of Lalish’s principal outside courtyard is a beautiful image of a peacock, representing the main angel created by God when he formed the world. One of the Peacock Angel’s names is Shaytan, the same as the word for Satan in the Koran, which has led to misunderstandings about the Yazidi being devil worshippers. He is, however, only considered as one of seven archangels created by God and revered by this obscure ethnic minority. The shrines and tombs of Yazidi leaders that dot the landscape of northern Iraq are often referred to by local Muslims as “Beit Shaytan”, of the House of Satan.

The taboo on lettuce is also obscured by secrecy and age, but is believed to have arisen because the name in the Yazidi dialect of Kurdish resembles the title given to the seven angels when they appear in human form, giving rise to an injunction that prevents worshippers from eating the body of those whom they revere.

Inside the temple of Lalish the halls built by early Christians are covered in many places with colourful cloths and veils. In a vault full of huge, crusted jars of lamp oil, newly wedded couples traditionally throw a cloth over their backs on to a slanting wall: it if sticks it is considered a sign of good luck.

The international Yazidi community is believed to number between 100,000 and 400,000, often living in an uneasy co-existence with their Muslim neighbours. Like the Druze to the west — in Lebanon, Syria and Israel — they do not easily disclose their religious secrets and maintain a strict caste system, with marriages to other groups strictly forbidden.

In April a Yazidi girl who married a Muslim and converted to Islam was stoned to death by her community, a murder that was caught by a witness on camera. In retaliation Muslim gunmen murdered 23 Yazidi workers, and about 800 Yazidi students fled Mosul university in fear of reprisals. Tensions between the two communities have been escalating since.

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