Pilgrimage to Sheikh Adi is incumbent on every Yezidi, but he is not commanded to pray, and he leaves that duty to his priests. Fasting can also be performed by deputy, and a group of Yezidis will select one of their number to do all their fasting for them, confessing to him the acts which need expiation and paying him a capitation fee for carrying out the corresponding penances. The door is to the extreme left of the wall, which is interesting on account of its curious magical signs cut in low relief on the stones, the principal being the great vertical snake, carefully black-leaded. Pilgrims kiss this emblem of Satan. On the north side of the temple a chapel, which they call Sheikh Hassan, contains an arkshaped chest or tomb, entirely covered with draperies and from this, again, a low door communicates with a second chapel in which is the tomb of Sheikh Adi himself.
Fantasy is one thing, reality quite another.
A true Zoroastrian, while sympathetic to the former, should live for the latter. Noshir H. Dadrawala, Deen Parast magazine. Mr. Dadrawala is the editor.