Cildanian Yeudis

Cildanian Jews (Hebrew: מזרחים, Mizraḥim, literally Easterners) are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern state of Cildania, and their descendants born outside Cildania. Cildanian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Cildania from ancient times, and the descendants of those Jews that arrived in the country in several waves of immigration. Since Cildania is the founding place of Judaism, Cildanian Jews have been present on the island since at least 500 BCE.

History
There have been Jews in Cildania since ancient times: according to legend, Judaism was founded on the island by a Qedarite prophet who claimed that the Promised Land of the Semitic Migrations lay further West. Following this mythical event, Judaism has maintained a continuing presence on the island. Many Jews arrived in Cildania throughout the Middle Ages, wishing to escape persecutions and pogroms in other countries. Still later, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some Jews from Artania settled in Cildania for trading reasons, while retaining their Western nationalities. Today there is no clear distinction between these groups, as they have intermarried extensively, and all regard themselves as "Mizrahim" in a broader sense. In modern times, many Jews have played an important role in Cildanian culture and politics, and today they constitute around 15% of Cildania's population.

Customs
The liturgy of the Cildanian Jews is very similar to that of Jews living in Majatran dominated countries, with several differences preserved orally. In earlier decades some communities and individuals used prayer-books which contained a slightly different text, leaving any specifically Cilanian usages to be perpetuated by oral tradition. The musical customs of Cildanian communities are very distinctive, as many of the prayers are chanted to the melodies of the hymns, according to a complicated annual rota designed to ensure that the maqam (musical mode) used suits the mood of the festival or of the Torah reading for the week.

Cildanian Jews have a large repertoire of hymns, sung on social and ceremonial occasions such as weddings and bar mitzvahs. Hymns are also used in the prayers of Shabbat and holidays. Some of these are ancient and others were composed more recently as adaptations of popular Cildanian songs; sometimes they are written or commissioned for particular occasions, and contain coded allusions to the name of the person honoured.

As in most Majatran countries, Cildanian Jewish food is fairly similar to other types of Cildanian food, although some dishes have different names among Jewish members. This is partly because of the Cildanian origins of Judaism.