Ordibeheshtgan and the ceremony of "Tash Mas"
(adding fire to fire or adding wood to fire)
The ceremony for adding fire to fire, or as called in the Dari language: "Tash Mas", is held on Ordibehesht Amshaspand Day of Ordibehesht Amshaspand Month, according to the Zoroastrian calendar. Ordibehesht Amshaspand is the symbol of eternal truth or eternal righteousness and fire is the symbol of the divine and boundless light. Ordibehesht Amshaspand is the guardian of fire in the material world. And, therefore, when this month arrives the ceremony for adding fire to fire is held, either on Ordibehesht Amshaspand Day or Ador Izad Day or Sorush Izad Day or Varahram Izad Day. These are days which we Zoroastrians believe are suitable for this ceremony.
In the Berasad prayer (Khordeh Avesta), we recite "Be khoshnudi Ordibehesht boland o Ador o Sorush o Varahram". Three Izad's (angels) are appointed to support each of the Amshaspandan, and they are the disciples of the Amshaspandan. Ador, Sorush and Varahram are three Izad's appointed to Ordibehesht Amshaspand and are his disciples. Mobed Mehraban Firoozgari writes about this ceremony: "...however, all Zoroastrians held themselves responsible to keep the fire of the fire temples burning. They took it as their responsibility to prepare food for fire and whatever that was connected to the holy fire. But, there were times when some people were not able to perform their duty towards the fire. Therefore, they believed that by performing the ceremony of adding fire to fire they would make up for their negligence in looking after the fire." Mobed Firoozgari adds in his book "Iranians considered that holding this ceremony was as rewarding as building a fire temple."
How was this ceremony held: For holding the "Tash Mas" ceremony, the mobed would start reciting Yasna prayers from the night before the ceremony
(Oshihan Gah). Yasna is prayed over fire, and this fire will join the fire in the fire temple on the day of holding the ceremony. This ceremony depicts, in a simple and beautiful manner, the 6 Amshaspandan. 6 bricks are laid on the floor, in a row; one brick is laid outside the fire room and the other 5 are laid in a row inside the fire room until the last one reaches the Aprigan of fire. On each of the bricks a few dry stalks of wheat is placed and a piece of the fire that the Mobed has prayed upon, the night before, is put on each bundle of wheat stalks. Fire is first put on the first brick, meaning the first step, and this step is to reach Bahman Amshaspand. From this step the burning stalks are taken to the next step, i.e., Ordibehesht Amshaspand, and then the third step which is shahrivar Amshaspand, then the fifth step which is Khordad Amshaspand, and lastly to the last step (brick), Amordad Amshaspand. The last stage is to now
transfer this fire (all the burning stalks of wheat) to the main fire of the fire temple which is a symbol of eternal light. In this ceremony, the 6 stages that we Zoroastrians believe that we have to pave in order to join the eternal light, is so beautifully displayed. We start with Bahman Amshaspand) until we reach immortality (Amordad Amshaspand), which is the last stage. And then only we will join the eternal light.
About fire, Mobed Rostam Shahzadi writes: "We Zorostrians name God "The light of all lights" (shidan-e shid) and believe that any source of light is part of the divine boundless and eternal light and is one of God's signs which He has bestowed upon man as a blessing and which is the most important element of life on earth. Trees and plants need light to grow and can only live under its rays. Likewise, mankind can only exist where there is light. We Zoroastrians believe that by performing the "Tash Mas" ceremony we strengthen the inner light in ourselves and call it the spiritual light.
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Hiromba Ceremony
Manuchehr Jamshidi
April 10/2012
Afternoon of Tuesday, 22nd Farvardin 1391 (10 April 2012), Hiromba was celebrated in Mazra-e Kalantar, together with prayers for the souls of the dead, followed by the lighting of a bonfire.
Mazra-e Kalantar is one of the places where this ceremony is held. It is interesting to note that the philosophy of this day is based on the old Zoroastrian calendar (which does not count the leap year).
Chahar-shanbeh Soori in the belief of Zoroastrians
An interpretation of Chahar-shanbeh Soori, as a Zoroastrian tradition
In history, Chahar-shanbeh Soori is mentioned as “Jashn Soori”, which term has been exposed to various interpretations and meanings. From the viewpoint of Zoroastrian tradition, this occasion is interpreted as follows:
According to our beliefs, ten days before Nowrooz, we are prepared to welcome the ‘Fravahar’(spirits) of our deceased family members, which means that on Ashtad Day of the month of Esfand (the last month of the year) the small ‘Panjeh’ starts, and according to our beliefs and our customs, in the old days, our ancestors would light fire at the entrance of streets and neighborhoods. By lighting fire they would welcome the ‘fravahar’ of the deceased. On the last day of the big ‘panjeh’, named ‘Vahishtu-esh’, the people would go on the roofs and light fire on the topmost part of the roof, and in this way would bid their deceased farewell. In the Zoroastrian culture there was no ‘shanbeh’ or yekshanbeh, doshanbeh, sehshanbeh or chahrshanbeh. Our days each has a name and our months start with ‘Urmazd’ and end with ‘Anarom’.
One of the days when the people had lit fire on the streets must have coincided with the Arabic ‘chahar-shanbeh’, and since the Arabs believed chahar-shanbeh to be an ominous day (unlucky day)(they wouldn’t travel or bathe or celebrate on this day of the week), probably the Iranians had to make up a story that the fire was lit in order to drive away bad omen, and in this way preserve the tradition. Thus, they must have been forced to light fire, from then onwards, on the last chahar-shanbeh (Wednesday) of the year, to drive away bad omen, and this customs remained.
This custom is taken from our tradition, but jumping over fire is not our custom, because we, Zoroastrians, always respect fire. According to our culture, when the small ‘panjeh’ started our ancestors would light fire in the neighborhoods and would welcome the ‘fravahar of the deceased, and on the last day of the big ‘panjeh’, which is followed by Urmazd Day of Farvardin Month, they would light fire on the roof of their houses and would bid farewell to their deceased. Zoroastrians are of the belief that during these last 10 days of the year the spirits of the deceased visit their houses and neighborhoods to see if the houses are clean and the family is happy and united. Then, the souls of the deceased would become happy and would bestow the household with abundance and happiness. If this was not the case, the souls would depart in anxiety and worry about their families and their welfare. This is how we believe in our customs and traditions.
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The Final journey of the Pars fire
According to the writing of Rashid Shahmardan, the seven fires of Pars Fire Temple were taken towards Yazd, in order to safeguard them from being extinguished by enemies, and near the present day Aqda a village with seven fire temples was built in order to hold the seven fires. Today, after a passage of centuries, this village is still called Haft Ador, meaning seven fires, or Haft Dar, though none of its people know the history behind this name.
As Dr Eslami Nodushan has written, fire played the role of a pivot around which Zoroastrians gathered and in fact it was their spiritual flag and kept their unity. As a result, Zoroastrians of other places, who had come to know about the seven fires, would also come to this village to pay respect. These gatherings attracted attention of non-Zoroastrians and they feared that the fires were causing unity among Zoroastrians. They decided to go to the village and destroy the fire temples. People in the village came to know and secretly transferred the fires to Aqda Fort. Since the Fort was close to Haft Ador and there was fear of the fires being revealed to the enemies, they were taken into a cave behind Mount Arjun. This cave is today called “Shegeft Yazdan”, meaning the miracle of God. The local people call it Eshgeft. The fires were kept in the cave for 30 years. The writer has visited the cave and knows how difficult the way is upto the cave and after reaching the foot of the cave a steep wall has to be paved in order to reach the opening of the cave, which is almost impossible. It is interesting to know that no one has yet been able to find the end of the cave because there are passages inside which are so tight and narrow that one has to crawl in them. After 30 years, the seven mobeds in charge found it unsafe to keep the fires in the cave any longer. They decided that each one takes one fire to a safer place. It is said that one of these fires is burning in the Homa Fire Temple of Yazd, another in Zeinabad village and the third fire was taken to Mazra-e Kalantar. Regarding the other four fires there is no sign in history.
The fire that traveled a long and difficult way until it reached Mazra-e Kalantar, was hidden even from the sight of the village inhabitants, for fear of being revealed to non-Zoroastrians. A house was specially built in the middle of the village for preserving the fire, and an upper story was added, and like Shegeft Yazdan, a hidden passage was built towards it, and the fire was kept in this space. If you wish to enter this space, you should crawl and then enter a second room. Here you will see nothing but four holes from which light enters the room and as you crawl towards the third room you will find an alter where fire was kept, in darkness. For many years, a mobed would keep the fire burning and after him his children took over the responsibility, until the rule of Nasereddin Shah when Manekji traveled to Iran and took steps to slightly improve the status of Zoroastrians in Iran by removing the heavy tax levied on them. Some years later, when life became safer for Zoroastrians, (ravanshad) Ardeshir Khodarahm Samia built a fire temple in Mazra-e Kalantar and transferred the fire to this fire temple, which has unfortunately been destroyed in complete ignorance. When visiting the old house, I noticed that it is in very bad shape and a neighbor’s poultry are kept in it. It is really a pity that this house, which has stories to tell, should be ruined. It would be a good idea if the inheritors would donate or sell the house to Mazra’s Anjuman to allow the Anjuman to repair and renovate it. The future generation should know the difficulties our ancestors bore to preserve our precious heritage.
This is the history of a vivid and live nation. Let’s not give it to the wind.
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As Dr Eslami Nodushan has written, fire played the role of a pivot around which Zoroastrians gathered and in fact it was their spiritual flag and kept their unity. As a result, Zoroastrians of other places, who had come to know about the seven fires, would also come to this village to pay respect. These gatherings attracted attention of non-Zoroastrians and they feared that the fires were causing unity among Zoroastrians. They decided to go to the village and destroy the fire temples. People in the village came to know and secretly transferred the fires to Aqda Fort. Since the Fort was close to Haft Ador and there was fear of the fires being revealed to the enemies, they were taken into a cave behind Mount Arjun. This cave is today called “Shegeft Yazdan”, meaning the miracle of God. The local people call it Eshgeft. The fires were kept in the cave for 30 years. The writer has visited the cave and knows how difficult the way is upto the cave and after reaching the foot of the cave a steep wall has to be paved in order to reach the opening of the cave, which is almost impossible. It is interesting to know that no one has yet been able to find the end of the cave because there are passages inside which are so tight and narrow that one has to crawl in them. After 30 years, the seven mobeds in charge found it unsafe to keep the fires in the cave any longer. They decided that each one takes one fire to a safer place. It is said that one of these fires is burning in the Homa Fire Temple of Yazd, another in Zeinabad village and the third fire was taken to Mazra-e Kalantar. Regarding the other four fires there is no sign in history.
The fire that traveled a long and difficult way until it reached Mazra-e Kalantar, was hidden even from the sight of the village inhabitants, for fear of being revealed to non-Zoroastrians. A house was specially built in the middle of the village for preserving the fire, and an upper story was added, and like Shegeft Yazdan, a hidden passage was built towards it, and the fire was kept in this space. If you wish to enter this space, you should crawl and then enter a second room. Here you will see nothing but four holes from which light enters the room and as you crawl towards the third room you will find an alter where fire was kept, in darkness. For many years, a mobed would keep the fire burning and after him his children took over the responsibility, until the rule of Nasereddin Shah when Manekji traveled to Iran and took steps to slightly improve the status of Zoroastrians in Iran by removing the heavy tax levied on them. Some years later, when life became safer for Zoroastrians, (ravanshad) Ardeshir Khodarahm Samia built a fire temple in Mazra-e Kalantar and transferred the fire to this fire temple, which has unfortunately been destroyed in complete ignorance. When visiting the old house, I noticed that it is in very bad shape and a neighbor’s poultry are kept in it. It is really a pity that this house, which has stories to tell, should be ruined. It would be a good idea if the inheritors would donate or sell the house to Mazra’s Anjuman to allow the Anjuman to repair and renovate it. The future generation should know the difficulties our ancestors bore to preserve our precious heritage.
This is the history of a vivid and live nation. Let’s not give it to the wind.
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Valentine or Sepandarmazgan
All my life, I have been in search of the crystal bowl,
Not knowing that what I look for elsewhere exists within me. (Hafez)
29th Bahman = mid February, the former being the Iranian day for commemorating love and the latter being the American day for commemorating love, just with a gap of 4 days. The question is: should we celebrate 25th Bahman (Valentine) or 29th Bahman (Sepandarmazgan)?
Unfortunately, since the past some years, 25th Bahman (14 February) is being recognized in our country, by the young people, by buying gifts like dolls, flowers, candies, etc. Our young fellow countrymen are celebrating this day without knowing anything about the history of Valentine.
In the 3rd century ad, when the Sassanid dynasty had taken reign in Iran, in ancient Rome, there was a ruler named Claudius II. Claudius had strange ideas, for example, he thought that soldiers who were single could fight better in the battle field and therefore banned soldiers from marrying. Claudius was so cruel and his orders were so unbending that no one could help the soldiers to get married. There was one priest by the name of Valentius (Valentine) who was brave enough to get the soldiers married secretly. Claudius II came to know about this and ordered the priest to be arrested and put into prison. The priest was executed for getting lovers married. After his death he became popular as a martyr of love, and since then, he is commemorated as the symbol of love. Surprisingly, Iranians, who have a civilization of over 4000 years, proudly celebrate foreign occasions as a sign of being civilized. People have all heard the word “Valentine” and celebrate the day like foreigners, but have they heard about Sepandarmaz?
What is Sepandarmaz? In ancient Iran, unlike Romans of the 3rd century ad, in the 2nd millennium BC, i.e., about 2000 years before Valentine was born, a day was celebrated among the Aryans named the day for commemorating love (Sepandarmazgan or Espandarmazgan). This day, in the Zoroastrian calendar, coincides with 5th Esfand, and in the official Iranian calendar, in which the first 6 months of the year are 31 days, this day goes back 5 days and falls on 29th Bahman, i.e., 4 days after the foreign Valentine Day. Zoroastrians celebrate Sepandarmazgan (Woman’s Day and the Day of the Earth) each year, on 5th Esfand, according to their calendar. In ancient Iran, each month had 30 days (the extra five days were added to the last month of the year). Besides names that were given to each month, each day of the month also had a name. For example, the first day of the month is named Ahura Mazda, the second day Bahman (health, thought), which is the most important attribute of God, the third day is named Ordibehesht, meaning absolute purity and righteousness, which is again one of the attributes of God, the fourth day is named Shahrivar, meaning kingship and spiritual leadership, which is another attribute of God. The 5th day is Sepandarmazgan. Sepandarmaz was the national name for the Earth, meaning holy, widespreading and humble. The Earth is the symbol of love because it bestows its unlimited love to all creatures, in complete humbleness and forgiveness. The Earth gives equal love to the beautiful and ugly, and gives shelter to all creatures like a mother. Therefore, in the culture of ancient Iran, Sepandarmazgan was considered as the symbol of love. The suffix ‘gan’ means feast or festival, and therefore Sepandarmazgan means the festival of Sepandarmaz (the day of the Earth and Woman’s Day).
One day of each month, the name of the month and day overlapped and such a day of each month was celebrated in Iran, and the celebration was relevant to the name of the day/month. For example, the 10th day of each month was named ‘Mehr’. In the month of Mehr this day was called Mehregan. Accordingly, the name of the 5th day of each month was Esfandarmaz or Sepandarmaz, when when this day overlapped with the name of the 12th month of the year, which is Esfand, people would celebrate the day in accordance with the meaning the name. Sepandarmazgan is celebrated as the day of the Earth and the day for commemorating love, both of which had relevant meaning. On such a day, women would present gifts to their husbands and mean would have their wife and daughters seated in the best place in the house and would ceremoniously present gifts to them. In addition, mean would do all the house chores, in order to let their wives take full rest that day. Sepandarmazgan was for commemorating the role of women in ancient Iran.
According to Iranian belief, a man has a stronger power of wisdom, thought and physical strength. On the other hand, a woman has a stronger power of love, self-sacrifice and chastity. None of these two powers can survive by itself and can even stop the natural course of life. If we imagine men as the body of the aeroplane of happiness, women are its engine, and an engine cannot work without the body , or vice versa. Zoroaster believes that happiness of human beings is the result of knowledge and wisdom and not race or color or sex. He believes that all human beings – men and women – have equal rights. He gives freedom to girls to select their life partners with the help of pure love and wisdom as two main criteria. He believes that a wife and husband should strive to win over the other in honesty and truthfulness in order to achieve happiness in life. Iranians are among those people whose lives have been full of joy and celebrations on various occasions. These festivals are signs of culture, lifestyle, nature, philosophy of life and insight of ancient Iranians.
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Not knowing that what I look for elsewhere exists within me. (Hafez)
29th Bahman = mid February, the former being the Iranian day for commemorating love and the latter being the American day for commemorating love, just with a gap of 4 days. The question is: should we celebrate 25th Bahman (Valentine) or 29th Bahman (Sepandarmazgan)?
Unfortunately, since the past some years, 25th Bahman (14 February) is being recognized in our country, by the young people, by buying gifts like dolls, flowers, candies, etc. Our young fellow countrymen are celebrating this day without knowing anything about the history of Valentine.
In the 3rd century ad, when the Sassanid dynasty had taken reign in Iran, in ancient Rome, there was a ruler named Claudius II. Claudius had strange ideas, for example, he thought that soldiers who were single could fight better in the battle field and therefore banned soldiers from marrying. Claudius was so cruel and his orders were so unbending that no one could help the soldiers to get married. There was one priest by the name of Valentius (Valentine) who was brave enough to get the soldiers married secretly. Claudius II came to know about this and ordered the priest to be arrested and put into prison. The priest was executed for getting lovers married. After his death he became popular as a martyr of love, and since then, he is commemorated as the symbol of love. Surprisingly, Iranians, who have a civilization of over 4000 years, proudly celebrate foreign occasions as a sign of being civilized. People have all heard the word “Valentine” and celebrate the day like foreigners, but have they heard about Sepandarmaz?
What is Sepandarmaz? In ancient Iran, unlike Romans of the 3rd century ad, in the 2nd millennium BC, i.e., about 2000 years before Valentine was born, a day was celebrated among the Aryans named the day for commemorating love (Sepandarmazgan or Espandarmazgan). This day, in the Zoroastrian calendar, coincides with 5th Esfand, and in the official Iranian calendar, in which the first 6 months of the year are 31 days, this day goes back 5 days and falls on 29th Bahman, i.e., 4 days after the foreign Valentine Day. Zoroastrians celebrate Sepandarmazgan (Woman’s Day and the Day of the Earth) each year, on 5th Esfand, according to their calendar. In ancient Iran, each month had 30 days (the extra five days were added to the last month of the year). Besides names that were given to each month, each day of the month also had a name. For example, the first day of the month is named Ahura Mazda, the second day Bahman (health, thought), which is the most important attribute of God, the third day is named Ordibehesht, meaning absolute purity and righteousness, which is again one of the attributes of God, the fourth day is named Shahrivar, meaning kingship and spiritual leadership, which is another attribute of God. The 5th day is Sepandarmazgan. Sepandarmaz was the national name for the Earth, meaning holy, widespreading and humble. The Earth is the symbol of love because it bestows its unlimited love to all creatures, in complete humbleness and forgiveness. The Earth gives equal love to the beautiful and ugly, and gives shelter to all creatures like a mother. Therefore, in the culture of ancient Iran, Sepandarmazgan was considered as the symbol of love. The suffix ‘gan’ means feast or festival, and therefore Sepandarmazgan means the festival of Sepandarmaz (the day of the Earth and Woman’s Day).
One day of each month, the name of the month and day overlapped and such a day of each month was celebrated in Iran, and the celebration was relevant to the name of the day/month. For example, the 10th day of each month was named ‘Mehr’. In the month of Mehr this day was called Mehregan. Accordingly, the name of the 5th day of each month was Esfandarmaz or Sepandarmaz, when when this day overlapped with the name of the 12th month of the year, which is Esfand, people would celebrate the day in accordance with the meaning the name. Sepandarmazgan is celebrated as the day of the Earth and the day for commemorating love, both of which had relevant meaning. On such a day, women would present gifts to their husbands and mean would have their wife and daughters seated in the best place in the house and would ceremoniously present gifts to them. In addition, mean would do all the house chores, in order to let their wives take full rest that day. Sepandarmazgan was for commemorating the role of women in ancient Iran.
According to Iranian belief, a man has a stronger power of wisdom, thought and physical strength. On the other hand, a woman has a stronger power of love, self-sacrifice and chastity. None of these two powers can survive by itself and can even stop the natural course of life. If we imagine men as the body of the aeroplane of happiness, women are its engine, and an engine cannot work without the body , or vice versa. Zoroaster believes that happiness of human beings is the result of knowledge and wisdom and not race or color or sex. He believes that all human beings – men and women – have equal rights. He gives freedom to girls to select their life partners with the help of pure love and wisdom as two main criteria. He believes that a wife and husband should strive to win over the other in honesty and truthfulness in order to achieve happiness in life. Iranians are among those people whose lives have been full of joy and celebrations on various occasions. These festivals are signs of culture, lifestyle, nature, philosophy of life and insight of ancient Iranians.
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Jashneh Sadeh
By: Kyoumars Samia Kalantari
Blessed by the day of the discovery of fire.
When you come to this divine land take peaceful steps because this land is the cradle of world civilization, and the world is indebted towards it. It is the land that has founded goodness, righteousness and magnanimity. It is a land where fire was discovered and cave men started settling and building cities. It is a land that has raised the first messenger of monotheism in the world and presented him to the world. This precious land is Iran. Step carefully onto it. This is the land of Zarathushtra, who made light his praying direction, to teach his people that they should enlighten their hearts first, and then pray. This is the land where Siavash obeyed Zarathushtra's teachings and kept to his oath and gave his life for it. This is the land of Cyrus the Great and Dariush the Great, who opened a fresh page in the history of humanity. This is the land of Anushirvan the Just, who built the biggest university of his time. It is the land of
Amr-Ol-Leis, whose name caused fear among the Arab Khalifets. This is the land of Babak, who weakened the pillars of tyrany built by the Arab invaders. This is the land of Ferdowsi, who restored the Persian language.
Iranians will light fires and celebrate the day because the world owes Iran for introducing civilization.
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An interesting story about Pir-e Banoo Pars (Pars Banoo)
By: Kyoumars Samia Kalantari
Introduction
I read this article for a friend and asked his opinion. He said that it was good but he was not sure that it was correct to put it on the site for others to read. I asked for the reason. He said, “Those who read it may not like to know the depth of the mistake that our ancestors had made”. His words reminded me of a story by Aziz Nasin, a writer from Turkey, called “Neighbors shouldn’t know”. The story is about a father of a family who was very particular about neighbors no knowing what was going on in his house. When his son came home drunk, for the first time, and his mother started yelling at him, his father hushed her to be quiet so that the neighbors are not aroused by the noise. Then, his daughter was seduced, and after her the mother had the same fate, but the father still insisted that the neighbors should not know anything.
I cannot see the logic in keeping quiet about our mistakes. I think that we should criticize ourselves in order to prevent further mistakes. On the other hand, the mistake (whatever it is) is made by a certain group of people and has nothing to do with the teachings of our great teacher, Zarathushtra, and his religion. I would suggest that we keep up a constant dialogue so that the “pure is separated from impure”. Do you agree?
The story of Pir-e Banoo Pars as written by Rashid Shahmardan.
He relates that the Pir belongs to the queen of Pars (Pars Banoo) who, during the invasion of the Arabs, fled from the city (the name of the city is not mentioned. If it was Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid kingdom, it was very far from Yazd and not possible for a lady to have fled all this way) towards Yazd and the enemies chased her all the way. The queen, now thirsty and exhausted, went towards the mountains surrounding the present day city, Aqda, and pleaded to a farmer working nearby, for water. The farmer did not have water with him, so he milked his cow to give her the milk to drink, but as he was milking the cow kicked the pale and spilt the milk. At the same time, the enemies got near. With dry lips the queen ran towards a mountain but could not find anywhere to hide. She ran towards another mountain near a place called Arjun. The enemies got closer and closer. She pleaded to God to give her shelter in the mountain. Her pleas were answered and a crack opened in the mountain. She threw herself into the crack and the crack immediately closed. But, part of her veil, which the enemies were trying to pull, remained outside the crack. It is said that many years later, a blind man was passing by this spot and lied down to rest next to the place where the piece of the veil was seen in the mountain. He fell to sleep there. A lady came into his dream and told him to wake up because he was now able to see. He got back his eye sight and realized it was because he had slept where Pars Banoo was buried. In response to this miracle he built a shrine on that spot and named it Pir-e Banoo Pars. He told his story to the people, who then started visiting the Pir and praying to God to give them their needs.
The authenticity of this story is not the subject of discussion in this article. It is about the farmer who did not have water to offer the queen, and instead milked his cow to give the milk to quench the queen’s thirst, but the cow kicked the pale and spilt the milk. According to this story, the queen, who was chaste and virtuous, ran towards the mountains with thirsty lips, and her grave brings miracles for pilgrims, like the example of the blind man who got back his eye sight. On the other hand, the cow of the farmer kicked the pale and spilt the milk which was to be drunk by this lady. Therefore, in this sentimental story, the cow is condemned and should be killed! The poor Zoroastrians, whose only wealth was their cows that helped them in their fields and gave them milk, would take the cows to the Pir and sacrifice them for Banoo Pars, just because of their belief in the story. The interesting part is that they themselves would not kill and had to hire a Moslem to do it, and because no Zoroastrian would eat cow’s meat, he would give away all the flesh to the butcher. In other words, the poor Zoroastrian, who lived a very poor life, would feed those who were his biggest enemies and who had brought all the miseries on him and his family! All this because of his false belief and ignorance. This state of affairs went on until Manekji came to Iran. He was astonished to see such a scene at the Pir. He questioned those poor Zoroastrians: “Why should you kill a cow when you never eat its meat, and in any case, our religion does not allow you to kill a cow?” Manekji decided to find a solution to stop this superstitious act, which he could not understand nor accept. He wrote a proclamation on a stone slab and built it inside the shrine’s wall. It read “Whosoever kills a cow in this holy place will be cursed by God forever.” For that day onwards, no one killed a cow, in fear of being cursed. Luckily, in spite of all the renovations made to the building of the shrine this carved stone still exists inside the shrine. We hail the pure spirit of Manekji for this great act of reform.
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Azargan Day
Azar is the name of the guardian of fire. Azargan is one of the auspicious days when fire is commemorated and regarded as one of the divine gifts of God. Fire is one of the four elements that is pure and holy next to the ancient Iranians and Zoroastrians. From very ancient times fire has been considered sacred, and according to a belief, it was considered as the representative of the sun, on earth. In Avesta, there are hymns in praise of fire and the sun. Our ancestors celebrated Azargan by lighting fire on their house roofs and by rejoicing and offering prayers and laying tables of eatables in fire temples. They would put sweet smelling essence on the fire and then each household would take a piece of the fire home, from the fire temple, and this fire was kept burning all through the winter, as a good omen. A flower by the name of Azariyun is the flower of this month. In some Persian texts it is also called Azargun, or the fire flower. According to the Zoroastrian calendar, the third day of the month of Azar is named Azar, and the overlapping of Azar month with Azar day is celebrated as Azargan.
Thanks to Sohrab Kalantari for preparing and sending us the above report.
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Thanks to Sohrab Kalantari for preparing and sending us the above report.
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Gahanbar
By: Kyoumars Samia Kalantari
Introduction
Some pronounce ‘Gahanbar’ as Gah-anbar; some relate the 6 chahreh of gahanbar to the 6 stages of creation, as in the Semite religions, and others know this ceremony as an act of charity. The latter theory seems to be closer to reality. But, nowhere do we read about the history of its origin. Here, I will look at Gahanbar from a different angle, and hope to encourage more research on this important tradition of our culture.’
A famous verse from Ferdowsi says: Fereidoon Farrokh (one of the Kiyanian kings) was not an angel; nor made of sweet smelling perfumes. He gained his fame by his generous deeds. You can be another Fereidoon Farrokh; just be generous.
In ancient Iran, one of the most hated deeds was to ask something from someone without earning it, in other words, to beg. Borrowing was also disliked and discouraged. Herodotus has best explained the reason: “Iranians do not borrow from anyone, fearing that they will not be able to pay back on time, and may have to lie for that.” On the other hand, Iranians made land fertile and earned their living by hard work. They believed that: “Whosoever does farming scatters the seeds of truthfulness”. An Iranian did not think otherwise because his Teacher has said in The Gathas: O Lord, I know that only those who work hard for cultivating land and keeping herds and horses will be rewarded by happiness in this world” (Chapter 34, Verse 11 of Gathas). Therefore, it is not possible that such civilized and wise people could have prayed Gahanbar because God has created the world in 6 days, or when storing the harvest, (harvesting was never done 6 times a year.)
Here, I need to say a few lines about the history of fire temple, before I explain its relation to Gahanbar. Civilizations grew near rivers, like the Phoenicians, Kartaj and ancient Egypt. But, in Iran, there were few rivers that flowed throughout the year. Therefore, Iranians invented the qanat (underground canal). These qanats would bring water for many miles to the irrigation area. Another element that was vital for settlings was fire. Where the water would come to the surface, in the village, a place was built to keep fire in it burning 24 hours, for the inhabitants of that place to take to their homes for cooking and heating purposes. The Persian word for fire temple is “Atashkadeh” meaning the house of fire. The person who was assigned to keep the fire burning and help the inhabitants take fire to their homes was called fire keeper (in Persian “Atashparast”, which is wrongly translated as fire worshipper). People would often go to the house of fire for taking fire home, and slowly started having other activities in that place, which had by now become a place for meeting, gathering and holding ceremonies. Naturally, in order to be able to make good use of this place, the people would donate whatever they could in order expand and equip this house for many purposes, like building schools, having happy ceremonies or ceremonies for the dead, etc. In times of difficulty people would gather in this place to solve each other’s problems. The most reliable person, who was also the confident of the whole village, was usually the fire keeper, because he was entrusted with important tasks. Charity activities were performed regularly, and now we find that such activities were called Gahanbar”. Since people did not accept unearned help, a rule was set, as a religious rite, that each and everybody should attend the Gahanbar and take whatever was distributed. One of the advantages that came out of such a custom was that the rich and poor would sit side by side at Gahanbar prayers, eat together and take home whatever was equally distributed among all. This ceremony was held whenever the fire keeper deemed it necessary and appropriate to help the people (as said before direct help was not accepted according to people’s culture, and on the other hand, not encouraged lest the people would go into the habit of becoming slack in their work culture). A verse of Gathas: “Let us be among those who develop and improve life on Earth”. ‘
It is documented in history that during the Sassanid era, also, Gahabar was prayed in fire temples and even after the Arab invasion Gahanbar was prayed in fire temples, until the time when, according to the political history of the Sassanids, the Mongol ruler of Ilkhan, Qazan Khan, converted to Islam. He then ordered all fire temples in his territory to be ruined and mosques to be built instead. He went further to issue orders that the property of the Zoroastrian father will not remain for his children after his death but will be confiscated and given to Moslems. At this time, many Zoroastrians who wanted to keep their property converted to Islam. Some others endowed their property, mainly comprising agricultural land, to Gahanbar, meaning that the property now belonged to Gahanbar. They made their children the trustees of that particular Gahanbar. Since endowed land was not confiscated, according to Islamic law, therefore, the Gahanbar ceremony got transferred to houses of the trustees of the land/Gahanbar.
It is interesting to note that one of the signs to let people know that Gahanbar was going to be held in a house, white fluid chalk was splashed on the walls attached to the entrance door of the house (still a custom in Yazd).
In those days, in order to set specific times for the Gahanbars, 6 5-day periods were selected during the year, called the 6 Chahreh of Gahanbar”.’
In some villages in Yazd, like Mazra-e Kalantar, Gahanbar is held in the houses of the trustees, but, in some others the Gahanbar is entrusted to the fire temple of that village or town, like those original times.’
Introduction
Some pronounce ‘Gahanbar’ as Gah-anbar; some relate the 6 chahreh of gahanbar to the 6 stages of creation, as in the Semite religions, and others know this ceremony as an act of charity. The latter theory seems to be closer to reality. But, nowhere do we read about the history of its origin. Here, I will look at Gahanbar from a different angle, and hope to encourage more research on this important tradition of our culture.’
A famous verse from Ferdowsi says: Fereidoon Farrokh (one of the Kiyanian kings) was not an angel; nor made of sweet smelling perfumes. He gained his fame by his generous deeds. You can be another Fereidoon Farrokh; just be generous.
In ancient Iran, one of the most hated deeds was to ask something from someone without earning it, in other words, to beg. Borrowing was also disliked and discouraged. Herodotus has best explained the reason: “Iranians do not borrow from anyone, fearing that they will not be able to pay back on time, and may have to lie for that.” On the other hand, Iranians made land fertile and earned their living by hard work. They believed that: “Whosoever does farming scatters the seeds of truthfulness”. An Iranian did not think otherwise because his Teacher has said in The Gathas: O Lord, I know that only those who work hard for cultivating land and keeping herds and horses will be rewarded by happiness in this world” (Chapter 34, Verse 11 of Gathas). Therefore, it is not possible that such civilized and wise people could have prayed Gahanbar because God has created the world in 6 days, or when storing the harvest, (harvesting was never done 6 times a year.)
Here, I need to say a few lines about the history of fire temple, before I explain its relation to Gahanbar. Civilizations grew near rivers, like the Phoenicians, Kartaj and ancient Egypt. But, in Iran, there were few rivers that flowed throughout the year. Therefore, Iranians invented the qanat (underground canal). These qanats would bring water for many miles to the irrigation area. Another element that was vital for settlings was fire. Where the water would come to the surface, in the village, a place was built to keep fire in it burning 24 hours, for the inhabitants of that place to take to their homes for cooking and heating purposes. The Persian word for fire temple is “Atashkadeh” meaning the house of fire. The person who was assigned to keep the fire burning and help the inhabitants take fire to their homes was called fire keeper (in Persian “Atashparast”, which is wrongly translated as fire worshipper). People would often go to the house of fire for taking fire home, and slowly started having other activities in that place, which had by now become a place for meeting, gathering and holding ceremonies. Naturally, in order to be able to make good use of this place, the people would donate whatever they could in order expand and equip this house for many purposes, like building schools, having happy ceremonies or ceremonies for the dead, etc. In times of difficulty people would gather in this place to solve each other’s problems. The most reliable person, who was also the confident of the whole village, was usually the fire keeper, because he was entrusted with important tasks. Charity activities were performed regularly, and now we find that such activities were called Gahanbar”. Since people did not accept unearned help, a rule was set, as a religious rite, that each and everybody should attend the Gahanbar and take whatever was distributed. One of the advantages that came out of such a custom was that the rich and poor would sit side by side at Gahanbar prayers, eat together and take home whatever was equally distributed among all. This ceremony was held whenever the fire keeper deemed it necessary and appropriate to help the people (as said before direct help was not accepted according to people’s culture, and on the other hand, not encouraged lest the people would go into the habit of becoming slack in their work culture). A verse of Gathas: “Let us be among those who develop and improve life on Earth”. ‘
It is documented in history that during the Sassanid era, also, Gahabar was prayed in fire temples and even after the Arab invasion Gahanbar was prayed in fire temples, until the time when, according to the political history of the Sassanids, the Mongol ruler of Ilkhan, Qazan Khan, converted to Islam. He then ordered all fire temples in his territory to be ruined and mosques to be built instead. He went further to issue orders that the property of the Zoroastrian father will not remain for his children after his death but will be confiscated and given to Moslems. At this time, many Zoroastrians who wanted to keep their property converted to Islam. Some others endowed their property, mainly comprising agricultural land, to Gahanbar, meaning that the property now belonged to Gahanbar. They made their children the trustees of that particular Gahanbar. Since endowed land was not confiscated, according to Islamic law, therefore, the Gahanbar ceremony got transferred to houses of the trustees of the land/Gahanbar.
It is interesting to note that one of the signs to let people know that Gahanbar was going to be held in a house, white fluid chalk was splashed on the walls attached to the entrance door of the house (still a custom in Yazd).
In those days, in order to set specific times for the Gahanbars, 6 5-day periods were selected during the year, called the 6 Chahreh of Gahanbar”.’
In some villages in Yazd, like Mazra-e Kalantar, Gahanbar is held in the houses of the trustees, but, in some others the Gahanbar is entrusted to the fire temple of that village or town, like those original times.’
Gahanbar Ceremonies
Starting 28 October 2011, one of the 6 annual gahanbar ceremonies will be held in Mazra-e Kalantar for 5 days. Those houses in which gahanbar will be prayed are busy doing major house cleaning. Their walls of the entrance door will be stained with white liquid chalk to inform passers by that this house will be having gahanbar prayers on a certain day of the 5 days. Actually, staining the entrance walls with white chalk is an invitaion for the people to participate in the prayers and have a share of the donations of the house owner (comprising nuts, fruit, bread and whatever else that is included), and participae in the prayers offered to the deceased members of that household. The upcoming gahanbar in Mazra-e Kalantar is called "Teshtar Gahanbar" and calculated according to the traditional calendar. Everyone, whether rich of poor, knows that it is a religious rite to participate in the gahanbar prayers. The philosophy of gahanbar and the reason why
it has turned into a religious duty for all to participate, and why in ancient Iran gahanbar prayers became a custom among the people will be discussed in a separate article, in the near future.
it has turned into a religious duty for all to participate, and why in ancient Iran gahanbar prayers became a custom among the people will be discussed in a separate article, in the near future.