Nestled in the northwest corner of the US lies a city where not only does the rain come pouring down, but so do adorable Zoroastrian babies. Our once small ZSWS (Zoroastrian Society of Washington State) community is now bustling with children around each corner. In the last five years we have celebrated multiple births and the numbers continue to rise.
Written by Rushna Bhesania & Nazneen Damkewala
2015 saw our community rejoice births over 15% and at the same time we were blessed to initiate 10% of our younglings into the Zoroastrian fold. Since the community does not have an active practicing priest, these families decided to return to their roots to commemorate their children’s Navjotes.
As much as it brings us joy to mention our new additions, we are equally proud of the generation that came before. The community has an equally large number of talented teens and pre-teens who serve as perfect role models who set positive examples within our community. These young adults encourage intellectual and religious curiosity amongst the younger group by being a brother, sister or friend our preschoolers can look up to.
There is no paucity of talent when it comes to our budding population. In the mood for some classical music? With so many gifted musicians within the fold, that can be easily arranged. Or how about an evening of some epic storytelling from the Shahnameh, we can certainly keep you enthralled with our in house poet. Dance? Sure, consider it done. It makes us extremely proud that there is no dearth of skill within this community.
A relatively young demographic, the community is made up of people who moved here from different parts of the world for education and later work with one of the many companies indigenous to the northwest.
The community strives to set up Z schools whenever the opportunity presents itself to educate our young and learn what it means to be Zarathusti.
Our large and budding community gives us great hope that the torch will burn bright and be passed along for future generations allowing our religion to continue to thrive.
The article above first appeared in the FEZANA Journal, Spring 2016 issue and is printed with permission of Dolly Dastoor, Editor FEZANA Journal
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