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The Yazidis of Northern Iraq In Iraq there is a small valley village called Lalish, served by no buses or shared taxis. Upon entry of the village one must take off their shoes as this is sacred place, a place of pilgrimage and worship for a little known people of the Yazidi religion. Lalish is a small place of many temples with distinctive cone tops. A step separating out from in, a large stone step not to be stepped on, but stepped over as to do otherwise would cause great disrespect. Inside, a place of baptism, off limits to ordinary folk but we can see the steps going down and hear the water flowing, our guide a local villager makes the symbol for baptism just as Christians do with young children pouring Holy water over their foreheads. Deeper down a smell of oil from the dark pottery vessels, with each step you feel this on your feet. The Yazidis are perhaps best known for their plight in 2014 when the town of Sinjar was overrun by ISIS militants. Sinjar had a population of 90,000, 50,000 of these were trapped in desperation on the mountain of Sinjar when fleeing the clutches of ISIS. Within days dozens of Yazidis began to die from dehydration. The so called Islamic State began to destroy Yazidi shrines, slaughter civilians and many thousand of men and boys were executed, women were abducted and raped. Coalition forces were dropping food, water, and other supplies down by helicopter to Mount Sinjar. The US responded with airstrikes against ISIS supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid and eventually freeing the Yazidis and the surrounding province with help from the Kurdish. Since then 68 mass graves have been discovered. ISIS kidnapped 6417 Yazidis, 3547 of them female. So far 3,300 have been freed. 3117 Yazidis remain missing. (stats from Kurdistan 24, 05/June/2018) The Yazidis are a non Muslim group, usually found in small communities in Northwest Iraq and Syria and Southeastern Turkey. Yazidis revere both the Bible and the Koran, but much of their tradition is oral, much of their believes come from Christianity and Islam. Children are baptised, and at weddings a priest breaks bread, gives one half to each the bride and groom. The bride dressed in red will visit Christian Churches. In December Yazidis fast for three days, before drinking wine with a priest. They are also known to practice animal sacrifice and circumcision. Lalish is said to be where Noah's Ark came to rest after the flood. With the ground hot underfoot I make my way around the village, climbing up the valley for to see the view, a green valley with almost alien looking buildings, but these are the temple's. Further out is a reminder that I'm in a modern world, a region of dispute, the orange flames of oil refineries in the not so far distance. Looking down, an important looking man dressed in all white sitting with people around him, perhaps a priest of some kind. On passing him he welcomes us to the village. A little shop in the main square manned by the guide sells some drinks and Ice-cream, popular with the children playing by the water fountain and a break from the heat is very much welcomed. On the other side of the valley is another temple guarded by a kid politely refusing me entry, but inside beyond the step a baptismal font. Moving on past people's house's no one really bothers you. Lalish is a place of welcome although sometimes a little misunderstood due to their isolated nature. To get back to Duhok hitchhiking was needed, shoes back on of course and walking down the hill to the main road, within minutes a car stops and brings us to the nearest town where we can get a shared taxi to the town of Duhok.