Yazdanism and Evangelion

The Yazidi are a sect of Yazdanism, also known as the Cult of Angels, a pre-Islamic Kurdish religion, sharing some common mythology with other middle-eastern religions - Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Christianity. Wikipedia describes their creation story:

The tale of the Yazidis' origin found in the Black Book gives them a distinctive ancestry and expresses their feeling of difference from other races. Before the roles of the sexes were determined, Adam and Eve quarreled about which of them provided the creative element in the begetting of children. Each stored their seed in a jar which was then sealed. When Eve's was opened it was full of insects and other unpleasant creatures, but inside Adam's jar was a beautiful boy-child. This lovely child, known as son of Jar grew up to marry a houri [pure/heavenly/delightful being] and became the ancestor of the Yazidis. Therefore, the Yazidi are regarded as descending from Adam alone, while other humans are descendants of both Adam and Eve.

So.. Here we have God's Image, Adam, whacking off into a jar over a childish "my peepee is better than your peepee" fight with his girlfriend, and he gets the jar pregnant. Suck on that one, Abrahamic religion :-)

Gather round kids, its Hieronymus Bosch

Lovable crackpot Erich Anton Paul von Däniken had some theories on this story with the theme of extraterrestrials creating life on earth test tube-style, which is kinda interesting considering Rei Ayanami and her relationship to the angel Adam in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Hope nobody sprained an ankle in that leap. Evangelion is littered with symbols and code, much of it almost Christian but not quite, I'm wondering how much resonance there will be watching it again after learning more about the Cult of Angels.

Related: MASHAF REŠ - Yazidi Scripture

Random fact: The Yazidi have a dietary prohibition on lettuce, the Devil's leaf vegetable.

Created 2007-05-20 00:45:21 by strix and filed under introspection