“Dad, everyone’s wearing a mask!” exclaimed the son of Adi Sidhwa, a Zoroastrian priest, about the COVID mask requirement. “Is it different than yours?” The boy wasn’t referring to his father’s COVID mask but the long, white, cloth one – padan — that Sidhwa, 46, from eastern Bergen County, wears when he presides at the… Continue reading Zoroastrian priests have masked for millennia | Faith Matters
Month: October 2020
Zoroastrians: Iran’s forgotten minority
The decline of this ancient community is a tragedy not just for Iran, but for human civilization writ large It is disheartening, but the adherents of the world’s first monotheistic religion appear to have been consigned to oblivion in their ancestral homeland, and as their numbers shrink, it is not only a religion that is… Continue reading Zoroastrians: Iran’s forgotten minority
Mystery Murder Story Set in Colonial Bombay
Set in 1892, Murder in Old Bombay addresses issues prevalent at the turn of the 20th century which are very present today: discrimination against those who do not belong to our ‘in’ group, misogyny, inequality in attitudes toward women. It’s also a heart-felt appeal to the (tiny) Zoroastrian community to update our social norms–or face… Continue reading Mystery Murder Story Set in Colonial Bombay
Farah Pavri: Good Deeds to Prevent Bleeds
We in the Zoroastrian community are proud to announce that Farah Pavri of Allendale, New Jersey, has been awarded the Girl Scouts of the USA – Gold Award, the highest award that a scout can receive from this century old institution. However, this is no ordinary story of Parsi achievement, but rather how one person… Continue reading Farah Pavri: Good Deeds to Prevent Bleeds
FEZANA, NORTH AMERICAN MOBEDS COUNCIL ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT ON COVID-19 RISK MITIGATION FOR PLACES OF WORSHIP
FEZANA, NORTH AMERICAN MOBEDS COUNCIL ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT REITTERATING CDC GUIDANCE ON COVID-19 RISK MITIGATION FOR PLACES OF WORSHIP As Zarathushti associations and groups begin to open their doors or put together their plans for limited capacity in-person worship, the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) and the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC)… Continue reading FEZANA, NORTH AMERICAN MOBEDS COUNCIL ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT ON COVID-19 RISK MITIGATION FOR PLACES OF WORSHIP
World Economic Forum appoints Regent’s Professor Zubin Sethna
Professor Dr Zubin Sethna has joined an elite group of experts at the World Economic Forum. The group brings together experts from multiple disciplines, including academia, business, government, and civil society, to share their research and analysis, engage in debate and organise around specific issues. Professor Sethna’s expertise lies in entrepreneurship, the future of consumption… Continue reading World Economic Forum appoints Regent’s Professor Zubin Sethna
Chinchani & India’s First Arab Governor
On the 28th of June 1955, The Times of India (Mumbai) carried a very interesting story of the discovery, by a farmer, of 9 inscribed copper plates from his field in the village of Chinchani near Dahanu, in the Palghar district of Maharashtra. Little did he know that what he had ‘dug’ up was a… Continue reading Chinchani & India’s First Arab Governor
