Belonging to one community doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy rituals of another for your big day, believes Verve’s Senior...
Customs Articles
All You Ever Wanted To Know About Sacred Rituals Of A Parsi Wedding
Marriage in India is a sacred institution where the bride and the groom exchange vows and promise to stay together...
How To Clean a Ses: Good Parsi Wife
Our friend Shaz Kha… a.k.a. Good Parsi Wife links us to a video that is very pertinent today. How to Clean Your Ses. Just in time for Parsi New Year in a day (or two) To get step by step...
The Difference between- Shenshai, Kadmi and Fasli Zoroastrian Calendar.
We have received the below from our regular reader and good friend Pesho Kotwal. He received this as a forward. Pesho writes One notices from time to time that "we" do not have an accurate and...
Wear it Parsi style: Lady Gara
Parsi girls become women the day they wear a sari. The sari perawanu or sari-wearing ceremony is a rite of passage. At the centre of the celebration are five married women who help the girl wear a...
How religious beliefs influence home decor
For a country like India, where religious diversity is an undeniable part of the basic social fabric, religions and faiths influence home decor. Often, getting the absolutely perfect sanctum...
Muktad Prayers: How Long Should One Do Them ?
A humorous take on a very pertinent issue that we all face at some point in our lives. Good friend of Parsi Khabar, Er. Marzban J. Hathiram write on Frashogard.com The question is often put...
Last Rites for Zoroastrians in North America
Meher Amalsad, via email informs: Last Rights for Zarathushtis: By Ervad Zarrir Bhandara My Dear Friends:In this educational audio program: “LAST RIGHTS” Mobed Zarrir Bhandara has beautifully...
A Parsi Lady: Poem by Siloo Kapadia
Below is a poem by long time reader of Parsi Khabar, Siloo Kapadia. A Parsi Lady By Siloo Kapadia I’m rolling my chapatti And I’m swinging my hips And from my rose water I’m taking a sip The smell...
Thread Bare: The Art of Kusti Weaving
An unusual book on the weaving of the sacred thread worn by the Parsis adds to the craft revival stories in India Few, even among textile conservationists, would imagine a book deconstructing kusti,...
The compilation that could save a community
Two members of the Zoroastrian community have taken the initiative to preserve the community's oral history by compiling a book on Parsi-Gujarati idioms. You can contribute too By Aviva Dharmaraj |...
Parsis Abroad More Conscious of Identity
Parsis living in the UK, USA and Canada are more conscious of their identity than their Mumbai counterparts. This statement would have been wholly incorrect, some forty years ago, in the 70’s....
Of An Edwardian India
When life in a Parsi household was lived at a leisurely pace... By Silloo Mehta Indian cities were beautiful a century ago. Bungalows had gardens, leafy parks were well maintained and flowering...
Parsi Memories : Daily Loban Ritual
By Rusi Sorabjee One of the daily ritual in a Parsi/Irani homes in India of the early 20th Century, that brings back happy memories of our childhood, of a bygone era, when the days had morehours,...
Religious Adultery and Parsis
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram, a good old friend, editor of Frashogard.com and the Panthaki at the Jogeshwari Daremehr has written a hard hitting post on religious adultery. Marzban writes My...
Parsi Prayers and their Significance
The following is from a series titled "What is Prayers" on Frashogard.com written by our godo friend Ervad Marzban Hathiram, Of the many gifts given to Parsis by their Prophet...
Faith-building lessons for Parsi children
By Naomi Canton for the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, April 26 VOLUNTEER TEACHER Sethari Irani (26) asked a group of 20 Parsi children why bad things happened to good people. "Because Ahriman (the...
The Zoroastrian Way Of Seeking Solace
By Ervad Marzban Hathiram We live in tumultuous times. Our miseries seem never-ending. Calamities, both natural and human-made, visit us with uncanny regularity. Faced with these misfortunes, some...
Funeral procedures for Parsis Deceased Abroad.
By Ervad (Dr.) Hoshang J. Bhadha The following funeral procedure for shipping the mortal remains to India is prepared for the Zoroastrian community in the United States. The given procedure and...
Celebrating the Atash nu Parab
By Firoza Punthakey-Mistree courtesy of Zoroastrian Studies. On Adar Ruz, Adar Mah, the Parsis of India celebrate the feast of Fire known as the Atash nu parab. This feast is celebrated...
Nowruz Celebrations in China: Xinjiang Uyghur
Nowruz Festival is a traditional holiday with a long history. In Xinjiang, all national minority believe in Islam celebrate the festival. The word came from Iranian, means “Spring Water“, equating...
Wedding trousseau, the Parsi style
Women display Parsi wear at the exhibition on Friday. Picture by Bhola Prasad Jamshedpur, Sept. 19: After wearing saris of Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra and south India to your relatives’ weddings, if...
Significance of Sudreh and Kusti
Sudra is a special shirt of nine seams worn just next to the skin made of cotton and white in colour and prepared from one whole piece of...
The Ceremonies of a Parsi Wedding
Parsi Lagan or Wedding is marked by vibrant and joyful customs that spread over a couple of days. Unique and interesting rituals begin from the time of engagement and culminate with a lavish post...
Dead as a dodo? Why scientists fear for the future of of the Asian vulture
You have to feel sorry for vultures. For animal campaigners they are a difficult case. Other, more photogenic, slightly less sinister creatures may gain the world's sympathy at the drop of a hat,...
Parsi Statues: Cenotaph To History
The route from Churchgate to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is sprinkled with memorials to sentinels of Mumbai history. Only, nobody cares Sipping my masala chai one morning, I suddenly realized that...
Sadeh Celebrations in Iran
Iran's Zoroastrian minorities gathered at their temples across Iran on Wednesday to mark Sadeh _ an ancient feast celebrating the creation of fire that has been observed since the days when their...
Migrants are Mumbai’s shapers, not its shame
By Bachi Karkaria, Jug Suraiya's Second Opinion (January 4) may be dead-on in blaming India's ersatz modernity for what happened in Mumbai , but it is way off the mark in also damning the city's...
Tower of Silence, Zoroastrian charnel house
A Tower of Silence is the place where Zoroastrians laid their dead to rest in the life-giving power of the sun. Zarathustra is the ancient Persian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism 3500 years ago....
Saal Mubarak
!! Saal Mubarak !! August 20th is the first day of the Parsi New Year. A time of happiness and rejoicing for all members of the small Parsi community, of which Shirrin and I are a part. This is one...
Celebrating Parsi New Year
BY Rakshande Italia If I cherished one special day during the year, besides my birthday, it was the New Year - not Jan. 1, but a day in August when members of my tiny Zoroastrian community in...
A Small but Mighty Religion; What we Believe: Zoroastrianism
Mehlli Bhagalia and his wife, Perin, tend a small flame in their home in Carlsbad. Bhagalia said the flame, safe in the fireplace, has been consecrated by the couple's prayers and is only...
The Persian king who is remembered every year
He was one of the most illustrious kings of ancient Iran (then called Persia) On 21st March, Parsis and Iranis the world over celebrate Jamshedi Navroze named after the Persian king Jamsheed of the...
Persian New Year full of symbolism, savory foods
One of the world's oldest cuisines is that of Persia. And with the coming of the Persian New Year, or Norouz, on March 21, now is a good time to discover the rich flavors and scents from this part...
Tonight Iranian people will celebrate the ancient festival…
Tonight Iranian people will celebrate the ancient festival of fire or Chahar Shanbeh Soori in all Iranian cities. Chahar Shanbeh Soori, literally means Red Wednesday, is an ancient festival, dating...
Iran readying for New Year
From Tehran to Isfahan to Mashad to Shiraz, businesses, shops and government offices are getting ready to close as Iran sets out to celebrate the country's New Year, called Nowruz. Iranians are...
Scrapbooking Projects
Although the Iranian government has condemned " Scrapbooking Projects 300" as insulting to the Persian civilization, the film has been packing them in at movie houses across the country. This is...
Heads of UNESCO National Commissions to Finalize Norouz File
Heads of UNESCO's national commissions in ten countries sharing the Norouz tradition will get together in Tehran in April 2007 for a final review of Norouz file to be sent to UNESCO for inscription...
Tower of Silence gets clean chit
By Nauzar Bharucha Setting to rest the controversy over the Parsi Towers of Silence at Malabar Hill, the health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which inspected the...
Parsi Anthem
We received this via an email tip. It makes interesting reading. Author Unknown When my time has come, when my race is run I want to go that very way of my Fathers and their Sons. When my breath has...
Udvada on Behram Roj
This write up was forwarded to us by email. I don't know the author or the source. However it makes fascinating reading, and something that a lot of people will relate to. The 20th day of the...
More good news for nature’s waste managers
Asian vultures faced with a plummeting population after eating animals treated with a toxic veterinary drug have been thrown a lifeline in Nepal. Three once-populous species of vultures have been...
Boman Mahino: No Non Veg
The Parsi community is known to be extremely food-loving. Unlike a majority of religions in India, the Parsis do not have the concept of fasting. They are known, on every possible occasion, to enjoy...
Vultures That Vanish
Spare a thought for the scrawny vultures -- those once-familiar birds of prey that used to circle lazily high in the air, scanning for anything to scavenge. In my youth, they even perched on tall...
Celebrating old age by making a difference in society
"Problems of the aged are not confined to the elderly but also impact the younger generation," A.M. Sethna, president of Parzor Foundation that deals with issues of the Parsi community, told IANS....
Small yet big
The Parsi community in the city will soon usher in its New Year by celebrating Jamshedi Navroz. JAMSHEDI Navroz is knocking at the doors of Parsis in the city, and with it, the community will...
Jamshedi Navroze….a festival to welcome Spring
Jamshedi Navroze is one of the three main festive days in the Parsi Calendar. The others being Parsi New year in August and Khordad Saal, the birthday of Zarathustra. Navroze falls on March 21st,...
Navroze: A great time to bond
Zoroastrians are looking forward to celebrate Navroze with their loved ones tomorrow.. Oh yeah, the preparations have begun. At the Kajanwalla household in Grant Road, it’s just finishing touches to...
Life without Parsis would be like bun without maska
And for the last Saturday before Parsi New Year, the fifth without Busybee, a few stray thoughts. by Farzana Contractor | Saturday, March 18, 2006 11:11:0 IST Without doubt, life without Parsis...
Encyclopedia of Iranian traditional art published
MehrNews.com - Tehran,Iran ... s legendary animals, the gods and goddesses, motifs and designs in ancient Iran, and the era of Avesta (a collection of sacred Zoroastrian writings, including ...
Ahmedabad textile workshop revives lost glory of Parsi embroidery
web123india.com ...one-week long workshop, with an aim to revive the lost glory of classic Parsi embroidery "Gara"...
Online Zoroastrian Calendar
Online access to the Zoroastrian Calendar courtesy TheLalis