The Journal News – NauRooz 2008

As originally posted on http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS03/803250370

(Accompanying video can be seen here)

POMONA – When Farzeen Patel’s mother was alive, she celebrated NauRooz by cooking a special meal and blessing family members by circling a silver tray laden with rice, coconut, chilies and incense, seven times over their heads.

But since her mother’s death, and since Patel’s busy life as a therapist doesn’t allow for elaborate meals and rituals, she and her family go to the Arbab Rustam Guiv Darbe Mehr on Pomona Road to celebrate NauRooz, the Zoroastrian New Year.On NauRooz, Zoroastrians around the world welcome the spring with special prayers, food and the Haftasheen table, which bears fruits, flowers, grains, wine and sweets, among other symbols of the changing season.

Zoroastrianism is one of the smallest and one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world. Its central message – think good thoughts; speak good words; and do good deeds – was preached by the prophet Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, as the Greeks called him, at least 2,600 years ago.

Today, its membership is about 140,000 worldwide, with about 70,000 of its adherents living in India, where they are called Parsis, and and 30,000 in Iran. About 25,000 live in North America and smaller numbers are scattered in other parts of the world.

On Friday, dressed in a purple saree with intricate white threadwork, Patel, a Pomona resident, and her son sat with dozens of Zoroastrians as they prepared to witness the Atash Niyaesh service in praise of fire, the main symbol of the religion. Through the fire, a symbol of purity, Zoroastrians worship God, or Ahura Mazda.

The prayers were led by Pervez Patel, an ordained Zoroastrian priest, and four teenage boys who have been trained as junior priests. Standing before the holy urn in which sandalwood burned, Patel and the boys, dressed in the traditional Jama robe and sash, chanted verses from the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy text.

“I wish you a life full of love, joy, peace, success and happiness,” Pervez Patel, a Queens accountant who is not related to Farzeen Patel, said after the service.

Zoroastrians flourished in ancient Persia from about middle of the first millennium before the birth of Christ to about 600 A.D. With the Arab invasion in the seventh century, many Zoroastrians converted to Islam, while others fled Persia to come to the Western shores of India.

Legend has it that when Zoroastrians arrived in Sanjan, India, King Jadev Rana was reluctant to give them refuge. He sent a full cup of milk to the Zoroastrians, saying that his kingdom was full like the cup and would overflow if he accepted any more people.

The Zoroastrians added some sugar to the milk, which made it sweeter, but didn’t cause it to spill.

“We will be in this country like sugar in milk,” Homi Gandhi, president of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York, or ZAGNY, said, recalling the story on NauRooz. “This has been the culture of Zoroastrians. They integrated when they came to India and they are integrated in the United States.”

In the United States, Zoroastrians are mostly urban professionals working as doctors, lawyers, computer professionals and accountants.

“There is a value system that does not conflict, whether with Judeo-Christian and Hindu tradition. It leaves ultimate individual belief to the individual,” said Kaikhosrov Irani, professor emeritus of philosophy at City University of New York and a Parsi. “There is no conflict, and that is pleasant.”

The United States has the biggest concentration of Zoroastrians outside India and Iran. Of the 5,000 in North America, nearly half live in the tri-state area. At least 1,200 of them are members of two Zoroastrian organizations, ZAGNY and the Iranian Zoroastrian Association.

Members of both New York groups meet at the Pomona temple one a month and for festivals, and classes are held every week for children and adults who want to learn Farsi – the Persian language – or more about their religion and culture.

“We are growing slowly,” said Farzeen Patel. “We see a lot of families coming with their children. … You see a lot of community building.”

Life in the United States has brought about some changes in the Zoroastrian community. In India, children of interreligious marriages were not accepted as Zoroastrian, but here they have been welcomed by the community. The community has also allowed men who are not descended from a priestly family to become priests. Conversions, once proscribed, are now allowed.

On NauRooz, Zoroastrians welcome the spring with special prayers, food and the Haftasheen table, which bears fruits, flowers, grains, wine and sweets, among other symbols of the changing season.

Reach Hema Easley at heasley@lohud.com or 845-578-2442.

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.