Village Ria Taza

Village of national minority
Ria Taza sits on the west bank of the Kasakh River, which has become more of stream now, closer to its source in the north of the marz. This small village on the upper plateau, officially part of the Tsaghkahovit Plain, is inhabited by Yezidis who immigrated to western Asia in the wake of Turkish and Mongol invasions from the 11th-15th cc. The Yezidis in Armenia are sometimes called “Christian Kurds,” to differentiate them from their Moslem brethren in present-day northern Iran, Iraq and eastern Turkey.

Yezidis
The real starting point of the religion of Yezidis may never been known, but it shares something of the origins of Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Georgian and aboriginal Azeri pagan religions; worshipping fire, the sun and an Originator of all things. Beginning in 2005 Yezidi-Armenian students became the first of their worldwide community to receive schoolbooks in their own language. 
Right off the highway on the right side of the road are two interesting monuments, one the Yezidi Cemetery, dating back to the 13th c, with animistic tombstones in the shape of horses, some of which may be over Mongol warrior remains, and the other, a 4th or 5th c church or chapel, built over a small pagan shrine that was venerated by the Yezidis after their arrival. It fell into disrepair during the Timur expedition, and now sits mostly in ruins, though you will still offerings on the premises, local villagers not wishing to anger the spirits of those who came before.