Iraq's Yazidis resume pilgrimages to sacred temple
Thousands of Yazidis have returned to observe the Yazidi New Year in Lalish, where they gather olives and firewood to perform religious duties in the temple.
Iraqi Yazidis are healing from the pain and hardship they suffered at the hands of the Islamic State, which swept their areas, killing men and forcing women into sexual slavery for over 2½ years.
In a sign of the return to normal life, the Yazidi New Year was celebrated in a Yazidi temple April 8 for the first time since the liberation from IS.
The celebration involves many Yazidi traditions and customs that characterize their heritage and history. They ceremonially cut firewood and press olives to extract oil to light the lanterns of the temple in Lalish for the entire year.
The distinctive domed temple sits at the foot of a mountainous area northwest of Mosul in Ninevah province, in a dense forest of olive and other trees. Cutting the local wood and pressing the olives are part of a sacred Yazidi religious duty.
