YAZIDI TATTOO DESIGNS (drawn by Lady Drower)

YAZIDI TATTOO DESIGNS (drawn by Lady Drower)

Author: Drower, E. S. (Ethel Stefana), Lady, 1879-1972., cultural anthropologist



Title: Peacock angel; being some account of votaries of a secret cult and their sanctuaries Published: London, J. Murray [1941]

http://www.avesta.org/yezidi/peacock.htm

Chapter VIII: "SAIREY GAMP" AGAIN.

"When we returned, the inevitable Sairey had arrived. I had already warned A. and apologized for our constant visitor. This afternoon, however, she was not alone: she had brought two daughters, one a married woman, and the other a bride. We prepared tea for them and ourselves.

This afternoon Sairey had all excuse, one of her daughters was a tattooist and she knew I was interested in the art. But that was not all: she wheedled a little, she had seen the silk that I had given to Rashid's wife, and surely I had a roll for her — was not the feast approaching? Now Sairey had at various times received money, and I had already earmarked my limited store of gifts, some of which were reserved for the visit to Shaikh ‘Adi. Regretfully, I refused, but A. immediately lightened the situation; she had brought with [75] her some charms in Hebron glass against the Evil Eye, a whole string of them in blue, black, white, and yellow, each bead representing an Eye. These proved an immediate salve, and never failed to give delight whenever and wherever she bestowed them.

We talked of tattooing. The women never admit that tattooing has a magic purpose, and tell you that they submit to the process for zîna (decoration) or hilwa (beauty). Here and there, however, marks have been tattooed to keep off pain, and the floriated cross and cross with a dot in each arm, both common designs, are undoubtedly magical and health-preserving signs. The married daughter explained how she worked. The ingredients were sheep's gall, lamp-black (from an olive-oil lamp only) and milk fresh drawn from the breast of the mother of a girl-child. If the baby is a boy, she said, the punctures would fester. The consistency of this mixture must be that of dough. A pattern is traced on the skin with this paste and then pricked in with a needle or two needles tied together with thread. These must draw blood. At first the surface swells up, but later settles down and the design appears in a deep blue. Yazidi women rarely tattoo the entire body as do the women of southern ‘Iraq, but content themselves with adorning the back of the hand, the wrist, forearm, chest, ankle, and lower leg. The favourite designs are these:

(1) The misht, or "comb". By the way, there is no hesitation in pronouncing this word, although I had always heard that it is one of the words which Yazidis will not utter because it contains the consonants sh and t, and suggests the forbidden name Shaitan (Satan). The "comb" is often joined to a circle called the qamr (full moon), or finished by a cross, sometimes plain.

(2) The cross.

(3) The gazelle. This is a conventionalized representation of the animal and is a favourite design. Those [76] that I saw had above the back of the animal a spot, called daqqayeh.

(4) The rijl al-qatai, "sand-grouse foot". This resembles the print left by a bird's foot in the sand.

(5) The moon, either full or crescent.

(6) The lâ'ibi, or "doll", a primitive outline of a human figure with extended arms and legs apart.

(7) The dulab katân, or kiûkiûukh: the spool or spindle.

(8) The rés daqqa, an inverted "V".

(9) The dimlich, a figure which looks like a bag suspended by two strings."

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