Irani Zarathushti Traditions: Health Giving and Healing Foods

The Zarathushti tradition of foods that have health-giving, healing and even spiritual powers may have its roots in the haoma (hom) traditions and the accompanying Yasna ritual where in addition to the inherent healing ability of the haoma plants (such as ephedra and pomegranate), a spiritual component is infused through the Yasna ritual that ritualizes the preparation and adds the spiritual efficacy of the manthra.

In orthodox Zarathushti communities, the tradition is found embedded in the preparation of foods during the communal gahanbar/gahambar and jashn/jashan feasts, when certain foods are prepared according to tradition and then blessed by prayer. Much of the food preparation and sharing is steeped in a rich cultural heritage and history.

For the people engaged in the preparation and distribution of the food, their effort is a service to the community. For all partaking in the feast, the feast and its attendant traditions and rituals bring enjoyment and comfort to an individual’s mind, body and soul. The preparation of the food and its communal sharing helps in build and maintain the health and spirit of the community as well.

One such food is the traditional aush soup prepared during festivals and feasts in the Iranian-Zarathushti neighbourhoods and villages of Yazd and Kerman.

Aush
The food commonly prepared and served to the congregation is aush, a vegetarian stew-like herbal soup that is said to have health giving as well as healing powers for those who are ill. Aush is made of finely chopped herbs to which are added previously soaked legumes and lentils in a whey (kashk) broth. Persian noodles (reshte) complement the soup.

Every step in the preparation and serving of the aush including opening the lid of the large pot is a ritual. After prayers are said over the food, it is considered blessed, health giving and healing for those who may be ill. It is health giving and healing not just because of the ingredients and the method of preparation, and not just because its formulation has through the ages been put together to restore ‘the hot and cold’ in the body, but also because it contains the spiritual power of the healing manthra that was recited to bless the food and give it spiritual strength. Three spoons of aush are considered sufficient to aid the body heal itself and restore its balance of hot and cold.

Balance in Food Type - Hot & Cold
According to an age-old tradition, there are two types of food – hot/heating (garmi) or cold/cooling (sardi). There are those foods that are generally balanced between the two, and then there are restorative hot and cold foods designed address an imbalance and thereby restore balance in the body. The concept is similar to yin and yang in Chinese food classification. The person making this determination is of necessity is an experienced and knowledgeable healer, often an older woman in the community. However, with the move of Yazdi and Kermani Zoroastrians to Tehran and their desire to be super-modern through a rejection of the old ways, this knowledge too is in danger of dying out. In this short space, we will try and give a glimpse into this rich heritage and honour those who are still dedicated to its practice.
‘Hot’ and ‘cold’ in the context of foods are metaphors. Perhaps hot and cold refer to the manner the body utilizes these foods, and whether they perk up or slow down a person physically, mentally and spiritually. Some say that hot foods thicken the blood while cold foods thin the blood. In what might sound like an anomaly in English, hot foods may produce cold sores in those so prone.

Classification of Foods
The classification of foods as belonging to one of the two categories (actually three, since some foods are neutral) has been developed by tradition. Certain foods are hotter and colder than others, and some placements are debated. What we read is that in general:

• Animal fat, poultry, some meats, wheat, sugar, sweets, wine, some fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices such as mint and saffron, all dried vegetables and fruits fall into the hot category;
• Beef, fish, rice, dairy products including yoghurt, beer, specific fresh vegetables and fruits such as radishes, watermelon and pomegranate fall into the cold category; and
• Some foods such as onions, tea and tomatoes are almost neutral.

An excess of cold foods is considered particularly dangerous for a person’s health and can be found at the root of many ‘circulation’ related problems. Therefore, fish eaten with yoghurt is a combination of two ‘cold’ foods that can cause problems. Worse is a super cold combination of yoghurt and watermelon. Anecdotally, eating a lot of yoghurt followed by watermelon is a cold cocktail potent enough to bring on a heart attack.

While this may seem a contradiction, another tradition is to avoid an excess of ‘cold’ foods in hot weather and ‘hot’ foods in cold weather. The contradiction is the popular Iranian yoghurt-cucumber drink taken to cool down in hot weather. Overdoing the consumption of such a beverage in hot weather may cause problems. Perhaps, it is an issue of degree.

The balance of hot and cold foods in their preparation makes for balance in aesthetics, taste and properties – and all of these properties are essential elements of good Iranian-Zoroastrian cuisine. For instance, in the preparation of fesenjun, a sauce for chicken dishes made from pomegranate molasses, walnut, eggplant and cardamom – walnut a hot food, and pomegranate a cold food, are combined in order to provide balance. A meal of ‘hot’ kebabs is likewise balanced with ‘cold’ mast (yoghurt) and khyor (cucumber), cheese and vegetable relish such as radishes and parsley. ‘Cold’ pickles serve a similar purpose in helping to neutralize the effects of ‘hot’ fatty foods.

Aujil-e Moshkel-Gosha
In Iran, dried fruits and nuts called aujil or aujil-e-moshkel-gosha (problem-solving nuts) are distributed at a communal feast for the participants to take home. The nuts have previously been prayed over perhaps by reciting a nirang. Among the Zarathushtis of India there is a tradition with a similar name called moshkel aasan. Both traditions implore the spiritual aid of Shahbehram Izad, the angel Vahram’s (Verethagna in Avestan) to help solve problems and overcome difficulties.

Aujil is a mixture of seven dried nuts and fruits: pistachios, roasted chick peas, almonds, hazelnuts, figs, apricots and raisins (keshmesh), the number seven being auspicious. Some substitutions are made according to locale, availability, taste (salty or sweet) and family preferences. Roasted squash seeds (tokhmeh kadoo), roasted melon seeds (tokhmeh hendooneh), walnuts, cashews, and dried mulberries (tut) are possible substitutes.

Irani Cafés - Disappearing Heritage

Brabourne Restaurant & Bakery at Dhobi Talao, Mumbai.

[This is a companion page to our main page Irani Cafés (Cafes) & Bakeries - an Irani Zartoshti Tradition at Zoroastrian Heritage]

Perhaps dining at an Irani café should become a Zarathushti pilgrimage tradition. For eating each morsel of a well-prepared and authentic Irani-Parsi dish in an Irani café is for some akin to a spiritual experience filled with history and tradition. Somehow food tastes different when imbibed at an Irani café.

Irani cafés serve another purpose as well. As an integral part of Zarathushti heritage and history, they present a facet of Zarathushti identity to others. The moment a patron walks through the door of an Irani café, they begin to experience elements of that identity and its values. It is not just the food but the egalitarian environment as well that makes for a complete experience. Most surviving Irani cafés are over 100 years old, time capsules of a bygone era: the bentwood chairs, the marble or glass topped tables, the portraits on the walls.

Disappearing Heritage and History
There is some urgency to the opening suggestion. Authentic Irani cafés are fast disappearing. According to a report by Naomi Lobo of the Indian Express, while there were 350 Irani cafés in the 1950s, by 2005 the number had dwindled to just 25. For the main part, the cafés are to be found in Mumbai, India. To understand the heritage that each Irani café carries, let us briefly examine the history behind the cafés.

History
The Irani cafés or restaurants were set up for the main part by Irani Zarathushtis from the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman fleeing the murderous persecution of the Islamic Qajar dynasty (1794-1925 CE) of Iran.
The Iranis were aided in their flight to the west coast of India by the Parsees of Bombay. For many Irani Zarathushti refugees the Parsee housing colonies in Bombay's Fort district were their first home in India. From there, they spread out to settle in Poona and Hyderabad. Once settled, they in turn provided assistance to other Iranian Zarathushtis seeking refuge in India from religious persecution in their homeland. Irani Zarathusti migration from Iran to India continued into the 1900s.

The Irani Zarathushti immigrants to India were a hard-working, industrious and self-reliant lot. They lacked the capital to establish themselves in trade, banking and industry as had the Parsees, but since they were determined to be self-reliant and productive, they established modest cafés and bakeries.

Ethic and Ambience
Irani cafés soon became iconic features in their localities. They became known for good, honest, reasonably priced food and beverages. Their clients were invariably individuals of modest means for whom the cafés provided a place to drop-in for an inexpensive cup of tea, wholesome snacks, or a meal – or to just congregate and socialize, for the cafés served a social function as well. By welcoming everyone, the Irani cafés created a micro environment that was classless and casteless – free from societal and religious distinctions and divisions. Some café owners even posted signs such as 'everyone welcome' or 'all castes welcome'. Others displayed religious icons from different religions on their walls.

Roots of the Irani Café and its Cuisine
Tracing the roots of the culinary traditions of the Irani cafés of India and the very development of the concept, is a fascinating and illuminating exercise.

The culinary traditions of the Irani cafés are embedded in the tradition of the old Aryan chaikhanas (tea houses) - an adjunct of the Aryan and Zarathushti trading tradition. The chai khanas or tea houses could be found all along the Aryan trade routes1, otherwise called the Silk Roads, and were used by travellers and locals alike. They even shared the same Persian name ‘chai khana’, regardless of the language spoken in that country.

Irani cafés are more chai khanas than cafés for the principle hot beverage they serve is tea and not coffee. The Silk Roads’ chai khanas served the local and travelling public. That very feature required them to be welcoming to people from different cultures. But it also meant that their food had to have broad appeal. The food needed to be simple, nutritious and comforting. Individuals came to the chai khana to sip a cup of tea and meet friends, to eat a simple meal, or even conduct some business.

Chai Khanas of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

Somsa freshly baked at a bazaar in Khiva,
Uzbekistan

Compare some of the fare available in an Uzbekistan chai khana2 to what can be found in Iran and India: shashlik (kebab cooked and served on long flat metal skewers), pilau (rice with meat and vegetables), kazan kabob (fried meat with potatoes), somsa (pastry stuffed with meat and onions), as well as naan made in a tandir (tandur in India).

In Tajikistan, the oven is variously called a chagdon, degdon or tanur, while the somsa is called a sambusa.

The baked items served at the chai khana bring us to another associated tradition, that of an attached bakery. India’s Irani bakeries are also an integral part of Irani Zarathushti heritage.

Chai-Khana or Tea-House, Bolo Hauz in Bokhara, Uzbekistan

Irani Café food as Part of the Zarathushti Identity

Jimmy Boy Irani café near Horniman Circle in the Fort area.
Photo credit: rediff

It is this author’s contention that culinary and other traditions are a more significant indicator of a region and people’s cultural heritage than is language. For instance, the Parsees Iranis of India speak Gujarati and English. Yet, their historic roots will not be found in Gujarat or England. Their Iranian, Persian, or Central Asian roots are found more in the concepts behind their traditions –religion, root culture and values. In developing the Irani cafés of India, Irani Zarathushtis might have adapted the décor and the menu of the chai khana to local tastes, but they maintained the underlying Zarathushti and Iranian-Aryan concepts and values – concepts and values developed over 4000 years along the Silk Roads.

This flexibility in adapting outward customs including food, language and dress, while firmly maintaining traditional values and way of life, is itself a defining trait of the Zarathushti identity. Over 2000 years ago Herodotus noted: “There is no nation which so readily adopts foreign customs as the Persians.” However, in quickly adopting local customs, the Persian Zarathushtis added a flair of their own making the adopted custom uniquely Zarathushti.

When the Irani Zarathushtis of Yazd and Kerman migrated to India, they quickly adopted the more established Parsi cuisine, which itself was an adaptation of Gujarati cuisine.

In her article, For the love of Parsee Food, Monica Bhide journals her impression of Parsi food. “Their cuisine is a tantalizing marriage of Persian and Gujarati styles. Flavouring their curries with nuts and apricots, they brought the richness of Persia to the simple Gujarati food. Parsi food is not hot with chillies but has complex flavours and textures. They are primarily non-vegetarians and enjoy eating chicken, mutton and eggs.”

One significant change between Iranian and Central Asian cuisine and Indian influenced Irani/Parsee cuisine is the shift from herbs and fruits to spices as the main flavouring ingredients. To this writer’s untrained palate, the use of spice in Iranian food is far more subtle. Iranian food is seldom, if ever, chilli hot.

However, at least one Irani café has not entirely forgotten its Iranian cuisine roots – the Britannia at Ballard Pier in Mumbai’s Fort district. Britannia is famed for its berry pulao, an adaptation of the Iranian zereshk (barberries or Berberis vulgaris) polo (cooked rice). Zereshk is widely grown in Iran’s Khorasan province making Iran the largest producer of zereshk in the world. Zereshk has famed health giving properties and may be a candidate for inclusion in the haoma family of health-giving and healing plant foods. The berry itself has a slightly tart flavour. If meat is left out, the zereshk or berry pulao remains a vegetarian dish.

Mutton berry (zereshk) pulav with sali boti (plate top-right) at the Britannia, Ballard Pier, Fort.
Photo credit: Anindo Ghosh at Flickr

While vegetarian food may not be what Iran cafés are known for, patrons can help develop this part of the menu by specifically ordering vegetarian dishes. The literature tells us that at its very basic, Parsi foods consist of rice and dal (lentil) stews of various kinds (dhansak is a glorified lentil and pumpkin curry-like stew). Leaving the meat out of the cooking of these dishes keeps them vegetarian. For some reason, a few Iranians don’t particularly care for dal. They use the term dal khor meaning dal eater as a put-down for Indians and Pakistanis (the term even has its own Wikipedia page!). This is one part of the Iranian connection we can safely ignore.

In Closing

Leopold Cafe, Colaba Causeway, Mumbai
Photo credit: ashokmandy at Flickr

We cannot conclude an article on Irani cafés without remembering that the first target of the Islamic terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008, was the Zarathushti Irani owned Leopold café of Mumbai. The Leopold café is located close to the terrorists’ second target, the Zarathushti owned Taj Mahal Hotel in South Mumbai. The Leopold is an example of an Irani café that transformed its menu in order to prosper in a changing environment. Hopefully, with the notoriety that articles such as this may bring to Irani Cafés, some of their owners might be encouraged to reinstate authentic Irani/Parsee dishes to their menus.

The great tragedy of the slow demise of the Irani cafés is not just the loss of an affordable and honest source of a unique cuisine. That food can in theory be prepared anywhere. The greater loss is that of the attendant culture and traditions – for each Irani café is a microcosm of a cultural heritage and a unique ethic, a heritage and ethic that has taken shape over thousands of years through a blending of cultures from along the Silk Roads. The experience in eating the cuisine of an authentic Zarathushti Irani café owned and run by Iranis with roots in Yazd and Kerman, will never be the same in any other environment.

Irani cafés were dying out because of a lack of patronage. Some cafés have changed their menus in order to survive. Increasing our patronage – making Irani cafés a pilgrimage stop if you will – will help keep alive these iconic cafés and what they are renowned for: good wholesome Irani-Parsi food at reasonable prices.

Wine

A flask of wine, a book of verse and thou….
Scene from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Artist: René Bull (1872-1942)

Wine lies at the heart of Persia's culture. The sipping and enjoyment of wine laces the verses of classical romantic Persian poetry as exemplified by Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of a verse from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131 CE):
Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough,
A flask of wine, a book of verse – and thou,
Beside me singing in the wilderness -
And wilderness is paradise now.

Achaemenian gold drinking rhyton

Several Greek writers document the Persians’ fondness for drinking filtered beer (barley wine) and wine during public banquets. They drank through straws with filters or out of deep bowls or rhytons. Serving wine to guests was a mark of hospitality. In the fifth century BCE, Greek playwright and satirist Aristophanes writes in The Acharnians (72-3) that the returning Greek ambassador to Persia complained of the lavish hospitality he has had to ‘endure’ from his Persian hosts, hospitality that included being ‘compelled’ to drink undiluted wine from gold and glass cups. Other classical writers talk about a profusion of gold and silver drinking cups that were given away by the Persians as gifts.

In Agesilaus 9.3, Xenophon talks about Persian kings sending vintners scouring every land for a new or exotic beverage. In Babylon, wine was made from dates and a ‘sour drink made the same by boiling.’ From Eastern Turkey came old wines with a fine bouquet and barley wine (Xenophon Anabasis 1.5, 2.3, 4.4-5).

Despite Herodotus’ account of the Persians being ‘very fond of wine’ (Histories 1.133), Persian texts speak of moderation as the rule and excess as being deviant.

The making and drinking of wine has been associated with Persia and the regions surrounding Persia from the earliest times. The name Shiraz, today the capital of Iran’s Pars Province is indelibly associated with wine now produced around the world – everywhere except in Shiraz, where its manufacture is now banned by Iran’s Islamic regime. Shiraz is located in the southern Zagros Mountain region. There is evidence of wine-making in Hajji Firuz and Godin Tepe located in the Zagros mountain region of Western Iran from around 5,400 BCE (see note 10) – a date that far precedes the making of wine in France in the sixth century BCE - by about five thousand years.

Dr. McGovern, University of Pennsylvania Museum, said in an interview with the New York Times that the fact that the farmers at Hajji Firuz had learned to preserve their wine with (Terebinth tree) resin indicated they had already had many years of wine-making experience. But 7,000 or 7,400 years ago, he said, "is about as far back as we're going to be able to establish the origin of wine."

Zagros wine was being made when the rest of the world was in the Stone Ages.

Ferdowsi’s predecessor, Tajik poet Daqiqi (935 or 942 - 980 CE), wrote these poignant lines before he was murdered by his servant – enraged because Daqiqi admired the Zarathushtrian faith and lamented the loss of his native Aryan culture after the Arab hordes had overrun Iranshahr:
Of all that's good or evil in the world,
Four things suffice to meet Daqiqi's needs.
Ruby-coloured lips, the harp's lament,
Blood-red wine and Zoroaster's creed.

A legacy of ancient Zoroastrian-Iranian cuisine is it accompanying culture of sophistication, good manners, moderation and romance.

[For a further discussion on wine and historic Persian values before the Arab invasion of Iranshahr (Greater Iran), see our article on the Legacy of Ferdowsi]

Sassanian / Sasanian Cuisine

A Sassanian era (224–652 CE) book titled Husrav i Kavātān u Rźtak ź/Khusrav ut Retak (Khusrav and Page) by Khusrau i Kavatan and translated by Jamshedji Maneckji Unvala as King Husrav and His Boy (P. Geuthner, Paris, 1921) is reported to contain references to Sassanian cuisine.

In reviews of the text, Husrav, that is Khosrow II (also Khosro/Khusrau/Chosroes. c 580/591-628 CE), also called Parviz or Ever Victorious, interviews a young man of noble birth named Vasphur whose family had become impoverished and who petitioned the king for employment in the king’s service. King Khosrow poses thirteen questions to Vasphur to test his nobility. The questions were about the prospective page’s knowledge about living a life of luxury.

Khosrow questions Vasphur about the best and most desirable fowls, meats, broths, fruits, grains, different kinds of wines, music, flowers, women and horses. In one of his questions, Khosrow asks Vashpur which dish was the finest and most savoury. Vasphur describes a preparation made from the organ meats of a two-month-old lamb fed on its mother's milk and also cow's milk, rubbed with olive juice, marinated with herbs, cooked in a beef broth and drizzled with whey (kashk).

[Today in Yazd, Kerman, and Azerbaijan, a similar preparation called boz-ghormeh is served. Boz-ghormeh is chunks of goat's meat or mutton, sautéed in butter and then simmered in beef broth to which saffron, salt and pepper (turmeric, cinnamon, tarragon and mint are optional) have been added. The meat is served topped with fried chopped onions and drizzled with yoghurt or whey (kashk).]

The fifth question is “Which pastry are the finest and the best?” Vasphur answers: “In summer: the almond-pastry, and the walnut-pastry, and the walnut-bun, and the bun made with fat, and the finger-pastry..., that they fry in walnut-butter. But with the fruit-jelly that is squeezed out and filtered from the juice of the apple and the quince, no pastry can stand the contest!” Today in Iran, a marmalade made from quince juice is called mojassameh-ye beh. In jams and preserves the peel of balang, a large citrus fruit, is still popular in Fars and Gilan provinces. Cucumber and walnut jams and pickles are popular in Qazvin.

Parthian Cuisine

Parthian leaders in battle gear from Ridpath's Universal History (1899).
NYPL Digital Gallery

The Parthians (Parthav / Pahlavi. 247 BCE-224 CE) overthrew the remnants of the Macedonian rule of Iranshahr after its conquest by Alexander. They were based in an area that forms the northeast of today’s Iran and North Khorasan province.

Parthian Soup (Eshkeneh): Reports of the military campaigns of the first Parthian king, Arshak I (Arsaces I), note that his soldiers supped on an onion soup, the predecessor to today’s Eshkeneh soup made with sautéed dark golden brown onions, fresh fenugreek and the stirred eggs (as in an egg swirl soup).

Some information has come to us about Parthian food through Roman sources, principally De Re Coquinaria by Marcus Gavius Apicius (late 4th or early 5th century CE) and also De Agricultura by Marcus Porcius Cato.

Parthian Chicken (Pullum Parthicum) at Apicius 6.9.2: pullum aperies a naui et in quadrato ornas. teres piper, ligusticum, carei modicum. suffunde liquamen. uino temperas. componis in Cumana pullum et condituram super pullum facies. laser et uinum interdas. dissolues et in pullum mittis simul et coques. piper aspersum infers

Loosely translated as sprinkle chicken liberally with pepper. Combine wine, fish sauce and asafoetida, lovage (a perennial herb, native to the Mediterranean, with greenish flowers and small aromatic fruit used in seasoning) and caraway seeds and pour over the chicken. Cook covered and then open to roast and brown the chicken. Serve with sauce poured over the chicken.

Parthian Bread: Roman legions were familiar with ‘Parthian bread’ and Pliny (the elder, 23-79 CE) claimed that it would keep for centuries. The bread was hard and crisp similar to a cracker. It was probably twice baked with a biscuit since double baking improves keeping qualities.

Parthian (?) Lamb (Agnum Particum) at Apicius 3.6.5: Haedun sive agnum particum: Mittes in furnum. Teres piper, rutam, cepam, satureiam, damascena enucleata, laseris midicum, vinum, liquamen et oleum. Fervens collitur in disco, ex aceto sumitur.

Loosely translated: Rub lamb with olive oil, chopped garlic and salt and pepper. Roast and baste with wine. Sauté chopped onions in olive oil with salt, pepper and herbs. Add prune, fish sauce and crushed garlic and cook to a sauce. Pour wine over roasted lamb a serve with sauce.

Parthian Laser (Asafoetida) at Apicus 5.3.7: Aliter pisam sive fabam: despumatam subtrito lasare Parthico, liquamen et caroeno condies. Oleum modice superfundis et infers.

Here we find reference to Parthian Laser, a condiment or seasoning thought to be Ferula asafoetida (asafoetida). As angedan and hing, Iranians and Indians are familiar with asafoetida as a flavour enhancer, tenderizer and preservative. According to Ammini Ramachandran, the name asafoetida originates from the Persian word aza (mastic resin) and the Latin foetida meaning stinking. He further states that the ancient Sanskrit text ‘Kashyapa Samhita’, (c. 200 BCE) mentions about the import of asafoetida from Afghanistan.

Dietary Training of Achaemenian Persian Children

Greek writer Xenophon (c 430 - 354 BCE) notes in Cyropaedia, the biography of King Cyrus the Great (r. c 559-530 BCE), about the meal-related training provided by early Achaemenian era Persian schools to their children.

According to Xenophon, as part of their instruction in self-control, Persian children were taught to control their hunger and thirst (Cyropaedia 1,2.8). Their meal was – if the Athenian Xenophon will excuse this metaphor – Spartan. The Persian principles of partaking in a meal included self-restraint, modest fare and moderation. The Persians believed the early training in self-restraint led to fortitude against gluttony as adults. The teachers led by example and were themselves paragons of the principles being taught. Food was not eaten outside of the lunch period called by the teachers. The students did not withdraw to satisfy their hunger until their teacher gave them the sign for a meal break, at which time the class ate lunch together with their teacher in attendance. The lunch (tiffin if you will) the children brought to school from home consisted of simply bread and cresses (according to different translations, the relish of cresses included herbs and nasturtium). To slake their thirst the students brought a clean water cup which they filled by dipping into a channel of running water.

Xenophon notes in Cyropaedia 2.16 that the Achaemenian Persians also worked off by exercise what they ate. The reference here probably means that the Persians did not eat gratuitously but rather what they needed to stay fit. Since, they worked off by exercise what they ate; they would have been fit and not fat.

When the children grew older, they accompanied the king on hunting expeditions that in themselves training in discipline. Ostensibly, the hunting party ate and brought back game. This would make the Persians of the Achaemenian era (c. 700-330 BCE) occasional meat-eaters. But their fall back meal was always the bread and cresses they carried with them. We are given the impression that the bread the Persians ate was flat bread or bread cakes, and that the bread was made from both wheat and barley flour.

The ethic of moderation and modesty that marked the reign of Cyrus would regrettably give way to gluttony and opulence in the reigns of later Achaemenian kings.

Hamazor - United in Strength, Handshake & Prayer. The Payvand

Hamazor Handshake

Hamazor handshake as a clasp of both hands

"Hama" means 'all' or 'all together' and zor means 'strength'. Hamazor is also spelt and pronounced hamazoor or hamazur.

The hamazor rite is a ritual handshake or armshake symbolizing unity and solidarity of purpose (see the prayer below). In the rite of hamazor between two people, the two face one another and extend their right hands with their palms facing one another (i.e. palm-to-palm) as in a touching, not grasping, handshake.

In a variation, the right hands are lightly clasped around the others lower arm. The process is sometime repeated with the left hands after which the two raise their hands as if to touch their heads - a form of salute. Ritual words of greeting and good wishes are then exchanged.

There is a related handshake gesture with both hands where one person clasps the other's right hand on both sides between both hands: both on the inside i.e. palm facing palm and on the outside, i.e. palm facing the back of the hand. The other person responds by similarly clasping the first person's right hand between both of her or his hands.

The handshake is often accompanied by a verbal salutation "Hamazor hama asho-bed" meaning "May we all be united in strength and righteousness."

Priests join hands during a prayer ceremony celebrating Jashne Sadeh in
Kerman, Iran. Photo credit: Mehr at Payvand Iran News.
Coincidentally the name of the news organization, Payvand, means connection.

Peyvand / Payvand

Payvand - connection through the touching of hands
Simultaneously, the Rathvi (Raspi) is in contact with the afarganyu (fire urn)
Symbolizing the unity, synergy & harmony of the spiritual & material existences
Photos in Jashan and Afringan for Beginners
by Ervad Yazdi Antia, North American Mobeds Council
Currently at Fezana Religious Education

A connection in Peyvand (through the passing of a flower) amongst priests

Hamazor is a form of Payvand / Peyvand. Payvand means to unite, join, link and connect. For Zoroastrians, payvand is also a ritual connection symbolizing solidarity that results in a spiritual synergy. Payvand can take place through a joining of hands or by two people holding say a cord such as a kusti or a handkerchief between them.

According to Mary Boyce at Iranica: "Hamazor was also made when people gathered for public religious occasions. Thus at the end of jashan ceremonies, and at the last service for the departed (called chaharom in Persia and uthamna in India), after all had joined in reciting the Khorsheed Atash Niayesh and Nam Setayishn, the leading person present in the congregation (usually a priest) made Hamazor with the person next to him; then others would follow suit, thus everyone exchanged the greeting. After the Afringan ceremony, however, it was customary in India for the serving priest to make Hamazor with the celebrant, and then with each member of the congregation. In Persia instead he carried fire in a metal vase, with incense, slowly passing through the congregation, calling out "Hamazor Bim" as he went; and, as he passed, people stretched out their hands and drew the fragrant smoke towards themselves, while responding with the same words (Dastur Shehriyar, p. 305; Boyce, Stronghold, pp. 43-44)."

Hamazor Prayer
The Hamazor Prayer of Unity
Hamazor bim, (May we be united in strength)
Hamazor asho bim, (May we be united in strength and righteousness)
Hamazor vesh kerfe bim; (May we be united in strength and good deeds)
Ham kerfe karan bim,(May we be the doers of good deeds)
Dur az vanah karan bim, (May we be far from evil-doers)
Sare sarat va chinvat pul buzrag shad va asan man, (May we cross mountain tops and Chinwad Bridge with ease and rejoicing with rejoicing and ease)
Bevadirad behest garothman va fashum akhan raushan garothman, (May we attain the best existence of heaven and the eternal bliss of the light of heaven)
Hama khur-rami avar rasad. (May we receive such pious yearnings.)

Hathevaro Hand-clasp between a Couple During Their Marriage Ceremony

Hathevaro hand-clasp between a couple at their Marriage ceremony

The hand-clasp is also used to symbolize the union of a couple in marriage. (Also see our web-page on the Zoroastrian Marriage Ceremony.) The ara antar ritual during the ceremony entails two family members (or the priests) holding a sheet so that it hangs between the couple. The sheet hangs like a curtain prevents the couple from looking at one another, symbolizing the separation that has existed between them.

Next, after the priest or priests place a few grains of raw rice in the left hands of the couple, the groom's priest places the bride's right hand in the groom's right hand at the bottom edge of the curtain. He then wraps a string around their clasped right hands seven times while reciting the Ahunawar (Yatha Ahu Vairyo) prayer. This binding of the hands in handshake position is called hathevaro. It is a form of Payvand and Hamazor.

The Union Hand Clasp in Other Cultures

Engraving by Jean Duvet 1540-1555 of the Marriage of Adam and Eve. Note the hand clasp

A wedding ring design using the hand-clasp. One interpretation of the hand-clasp as a ring is that the union is eternal. Zoroastrianism traditions states that the hand-clasp between a couple was placed under a cloth curtain between them (see above). Image credit: planert-jewellery

Achaemenian Persian King’s Table

Finely crafted gold bowl from Hamadan (?) at the British Museum. It has a cuneiform inscription around the neck written in Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite, and records 'Xerxes the king'.

The level of sophistication of ancient Persian cuisine during the Persian Achaemenian dynasty (c.700-330 BCE) was, as we may expect, at its highest at the king’s table during a feast. The king regularly dined with his court, soldiers and workers.

The Persian state provided their workers and employees meals as partial payment of salaries and distributed food as well (Heraclides/Heracleides of Cumae/Cyme , 4th cent. BCE, Persica fragment FGrH 689F2). Modern employers such as the military employ this practice as well. As a result, these dining events at the Persian capital were large. Ctesias (405–397 BCE) states that 15,000 men dined three times daily at the court of the Achaemenid emperor. Heraclides states that the King’s dinner may sound imposing, but if examined closely, the dinners turn out to be economically organized events and not wasteful. Especially during Cyrus' time, the Persians ate only what they needed for work and exercise. The meals were nevertheless well prepared and by all accounts tasty.

Classical Greek writer Xenophon notes in his account of the life of Cyrus, the Cyropaedia, "For just as all other arts are developed to superior excellence in large cities, in that same way the food at the king's palace is also elaborately prepared with superior excellence." (8.2.5.) Even though the meals at Cyrus' table were of "superior excellence", they were nevertheless not ostentatious, grandiose or wasteful. The character of the meals at the King's Table would however change during the rule of subsequent kings. They became opulent.

Describing this later opulence, the British Museum states that "Dining in Achaemenid Persia must have been a spectacular affair. Gold and silver vessels seem to have been plentiful, although only a small number - mostly found in burials - have survived to the present day. The craftsmen who made them were highly skilled and came from as far away as Egypt and India."

The Setting
The British Museum states, "Ancient Persian cuisine was highly developed, with speciality cooks, armies of servants and elaborate dining etiquette. Seating plans were complicated and banquets were typically composed of several different courses.

In his Deipnosophistae (Dinner of the Sophisticates) Athenaeus mentions that cleanliness at the king’s table was paramount when he says, "All who attend upon the Persian kings when they dine first bathe themselves and then serve in white clothes, and spend nearly half the day on preparations for the dinner."

From Aelian’s Varia Historia (2.17) the vision of the method of dining we have is that the main cutlery item used in dining was a knife which held in the right hand. A piece of bread was held in the left hand. The piece was food was cut with the knife and then placed on the piece of bread. The combination was then placed in the mouth. Silver duck-headed spoons have been found at Pasargadae and Ikiztepe (evidence of forks dates to Sassanian times, five hundred to a thousand years later).

The Ingredients
According to the British Museum, "Fruit, nuts and saffron are among the classic Iranian ingredients which originated in the Achaemenid period and are still used today."

Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis in Letter of Parmenion (8.8.16) mentions cooks who specialized in diary dishes.

An account by Macedonian writer Polyaenus (second century CE) lists the ingredients for the king's dinner as “sweet grape jelly, candied turnips and radishes prepared with salt, candied capers with salt, from which delicious stuffings are made, terebinth (from pistachio nuts) oil, Ethiopian cumin and Median saffron.” (Strategemata 4.3.32). In this and other references mentioning the use of dates, pomegranates, figs, apples, raisins, and almonds, as well as the planting and use of quince and pear in Persepolis’ inscriptions, we see that fruit and nuts are classic ingredients in Persian cuisine and the list of ingredients are long and varied.

Polyaenus (Strategemata 4.3.32) recounts that the list and amounts of ingredients for the court lunch, dinner and distribution were engraved by (the fictive & unlikely authority of) Cyrus a bronze column. The list discussed by Athenaeus of Naucratis, included large quantities of three grades of wheat and barley flour, corn, rye, minced cress, parsley, livestock of sheep, goats, lamb, cattle, horses, gazelles, geese, goslings, pigeons, small wild birds, poultry, milk, whey, onions, garlic, pickled radishes, beetroots, cured capers, juice of sweet apples, conserve of sour pomegranates, honey, oils of almond, terebinth*, sesame, almonds, and acanthus; dark and light raisins, nuts, almonds, sweetened seeds, vinegar, seeds of arum, corn cockle, parsley, sesame, mustard, anise, celery, and safflower plants; saffron, cardamom, cumin, dill flower and wine. Strabo adds acorns and pears to the list. (*It is possible that by terebinth, the Greeks meant pistachio nuts unknown in Greece at that time. Terebinth would have been the closest Greek equivalent.) Some authors such as Pierre Briant believe the source of this list might have been Ctesias who Athenaeus at 2.67a notes was directly familiar with customs at the Achaemenian court and had described everything served at the King’s dinner, or Heraclides.

Innovation and the Culinary Arts
"Again, whatever sorts of bread and pastry for the table had been discovered before, none of all those have fallen into disuse, but they keep on always inventing something new besides; and it is the same way with meats; for in both branches of cookery they actually have artists to invent new dishes." (Xenophon Cyropaedia 8.8.16.) Here we learn that the king’s kitchen had accomplished cooks and bakers from across the empire constantly engaged in a search for new recipes – while preserving traditional recipes.

This feature of exploring new and exotic cuisine would have greatly advanced Persian cuisine to a level of internationally renowned sophistication. If the Persians imported recipes from around the world, they also began exporting their foods. Greek Diodorus Siculus (first century BCE) notes that Persian cuisine and Persian Gulf fish were exported to Babylon. Several Hellenic writers attest to the Greek amazement at the food served at the Persian king’s table.

Birthday Feasts
Herodotus in his Histories (as translated by George Rawlinson) describes in 1.133, Persians cooking whole animals for the most celebrated day of the year - a person’s birthday. In 1.132, he tells us that boiled meat was prepared by placing it on herbs. Presumably that was another way meat was prepared for eating. Herodotus goes on to state, "They eat little solid food but an abundance of dessert, which is set on the table a few dishes at a time."

We cannot always rely on Herodotus' objectivity. While a birthday might indeed have been an important celebration, it is likely that only the birthdays of kings and royalty were celebrated publicly in this manner. Persian-Zoroastrian custom has always been that seasonal communal feasts especially the feast of the New Year were the most important. Further, the remark about eating little solid food and instead consuming an abundance of dessert does not find support in any other account and is patently absurd. Since Persian food contained fruits and nuts and was served in several courses, we must wonder if Herodotus as translated by Rawlinson called all non-meat dishes, dessert.

Tidbits
The First Pizza? There is another associated story from the sixth-fifth century BCE that links Persians soldiers of Darius the Great with making the first ‘pizza’ using their shields over a fire. The ‘pizza’ was made from flat bread topped with cheese, dates and herbs, all cooked together on a metal shield serving as a stove top pan.

Pasta Originated in Iran, not China: According to chef and author Najmieh Batmanglij, “most food scholars agree that pasta originated in Iran, not in China as the Marco Polo legend has it.” Noodles are a significant ingredient in the traditional aush soup.

Sugar: Anne Wilson, in The Book of Marmalade, theorizes that "the Persians may have been the first people to have employed sugar as a foodstuff."

Boiling Drinking Water: Herodotus also informs us (at 1.188) that when on expedition King Cyrus carried with him, boiled (thereby disinfected) drinking water stored in flagons (jars or containers) of silver carried on four-wheeled carts.

Diet & Exercise: Xenophon says in Cyropaedia 2.16, that the Achaemenian Persians also worked off by exercise what they ate. The reference here probably means that the Persians did not eat gratuitously but rather what they needed to stay fit. Since, they worked off by exercise what they ate; they would have been fit and not fat.

Persian Gardens: Via Xenophon, Spartan General Lysander also tells us that the Persian Achaemenian kings tended to their gardens personally, creating a paradise (paradeisos from pairidaeza) that including fruit trees and presumably health-giving and healing herbs (see note 8).

Rise and Fall of the Persian Standards and Empire
In all we are presented with an image of the Persian Achaemenian Empire’s access to a fairly sophisticated range of cuisine based on exotic herbs, beans, grains, meats and vegetables on the one hand, and the Persian’s own ideals of simplicity on the other hand. The Greek writings such as Xenophon's Cyropaedia leave us with the unmistakable impression that the Persians during the rule of Cyrus the Great were to be admired for their austerity and straightforwardness. The Persian diet was austere and the people were only occasional meat-eaters. According to descriptions of the reigns of later kings, the Persians fell from grace when they succumbed to opulence and over-indulgence – as witnessed by the change in their cuisine and dietary habits. By the time of Alexander of Macedonia’s invasion of the Persian empire, the Greeks point to the ostentatious Persian lifestyle and their conspicuous consumption as a symptom of the decline in the Persian ethic.

Were Ancient Iranians & Zoroastrians Vegetarian?

Court of King Gaya Maretan (Gayomard/Kaiumars).
Humans and animals live in harmony.

[Also see our more detailed and recent monographs:
Were Ancient Zoroastrians & Aryans Vegetarian? (pdf) Revised Mar 2015
Were Ancient Zoroastrians & Aryans Vegetarian? - Abridged (pdf) Revised Mar 2015]

Ancient Iranians were Gatherers. But were they Hunters?
Legend informs us that during the Aryan Stone Age - the Age of Gaya Maretan (Gayomard, Kaiumars) - the domestication of animals first started. Then during the Age of King Hushang, the Aryan Metal Age, the concept of agriculture and domestication of animals was further developed [See Hushang and Aryan Pre-History]. Before the advent of farming, we can assume the Aryans were gatherers of plant-based foods. But were they hunters?

The poet Ferdowsi's epic, the Shahnameh, offers an answer.

The Seduction of Zahhak by Ahriman’s Cooking
Ferdowsi’s principal source of information and legend was the Middle Persian Pahlavi Zoroastrian work, the Khvatay-Namak (Khodai-Nama). In one of the earlier legends in Ferdowsi’s epic the Shahnameh, Zahhak was the 'foreign' (perhaps Assyrian who Ferdowsi 'Arabized') king who overthrew legendary Aryan King Jamshid. In the story immediately below, Ahriman, the devil incarnate (Iblis, the Islamic word for the devil, is used in place of Ahriman in some Shahnameh translations) brings Zahhak under his control by becoming his cook and seducing him with the taste of meat. Zahhak develops a taste and fondness for meat and comes under the control of Ahriman, a div (evil being). What follow are the overthrow of King Jamsheed by the Zahhak and the completion of the first great Aryan tragic cycle. The Aryan lands which had risen to great glory, now fell on evil times.

As a youth well spoken, clean, and clever,
Ahriman went to Zahhak with fawning words,
"Let me," he planned, "a famed and noted cook,
Find favour with the king with my cooking."
Zahhak was thus by his appetite seduced,
And commanded the monarch's faithful minister
Give to Ahriman the royal kitchen's key.
Foods then were few, yet people did not kill to eat
But lived on the earth's produce of vegetal.
Scheming the evil-doing Ahriman designed
To slaughter animals for food and serve both bird and beast;
That the monarch when possessed
Of the carnal lust for blood and flesh
Would as a slave obey him, and do all his bidding yet.
Prepared he first a meal of yolk,
Whose flavour the monarch relished so
That he praised the wily Ahriman, who replied thus,
"Illustrious monarch! Forever live!
Tomorrow I will serve you and please you well."
The evil one then counselled the king,
That it was blood that gave muscle and strength.
And thus his food would make the monarch lion-fierce.
All night the evil div mused,
What strange repast shall I proffer on the morrow?
And when the azure vault brought back again the golden gem
Ahriman lavishly presented a meal of partridges and silver pheasants.
The Arab monarch gorged
And lost his diminutive wits in admiration.
On the third day Ahriman served lamb and fowl,
And on the fourth a joint of veal with saffron flavour,
With rosewater, musk and old wine.
Zahhak when he had feasted and tasted blood and flesh,
In wonder at his cook's ability, said,
"Worthy friend! Ask now your recompense."
His scheme fulfilled, the Darkness answered,
“Live, O king! In wealth and power.
My heart does throe with your favour my soul's food;
Yet would I ask one boon above my station?
'Tis leave to kiss and lay my face and eyes upon your shoulders."
Surprised Zahhak replied, “I grant it; it may do you grace."
Permission thus received,
Ahriman kissed the monarch’s shoulders and vanished.
A marvel followed – for from the monarch's shoulders
Grew two black snakes.

Distraught Zahhak sought a cure.
Finding none, he excised them,
But they grew back again!
Oh! Strange, like branches from a tree.
The ablest leechers summoned gave advice in turn
And used their curious arts, but all in vain.
Then in leech form Ahriman himself appeared
"This was your destiny," said he.
"Cut not the snakes but let them live.
Give them men's brains and gorge them till they sleep.
Such food may kill them.
It is the only means."

The purpose of the foul div pray shrewdly scan;
Had he conceived perchance a secret plan
To rid the world of all trace of man?

The words above are fairly clear. Before Zahhak's seduction by Ahriman, the devil incarnate, people did not eat meat [see Shahnameh, Zahhak]. In other words, they were vegetarian.

The legend does not end with that answer. When Ferdowsi made the devil, Ahriman the initiator of eating slaughtered animal flesh, he couldn't have made his point about the ethics of eating animal flesh for food more emphatically.

Further, once gripped by the taste of meat and blood, Zahhak became a slave to Ahriman. Perhaps Ferdowsi was trying to say that meat-eating is an addiction to which people become enslaved.

Since the practice of meat-eating requires killing life, it is not hard to see that the practice is placed under the domain of Ahriman, the Lord of Death, the lord of not-life.

References in Zoroastrian Scripture & Texts
Zoroastrian Scriptures
In the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, direct references to diet are scarce in the few books that survive. Whatever tangential references there are, are prone to different interpretation and polemics by proponents of one view or the other.

Chapter 29 of the Yasna, the Gathas, the hymns of Zarathushtra, relates the lament of Geush Urvan seeking a saviour from violence and evil. Urvan means soul. Geush can mean either cattle, the earth - say Mother Earth or creation. Geush Urvan therefore carries two meanings: the soul of the kine and the soul of life. The Middle Persian translations of the chapter translate the term as the soul of beneficent animals seeking safe pastures free from killing and violence. The verse has a direct meaning and an allegorical meaning.

Verse 32.8 of the Gathas refers to Yima (King Jamsheed, the Aryan monarch who Zahhak overthrew) as a sinner. This verse can also be translated and interpreted differently. One of the interpretations is that King Jamsheed was a sinner because be introduced meat eating - the sin that the poet Ferdowsi ascribed to Zahhak in the Shahnameh verse cited above.

Verse 39.1 of the Yasna mentions the reverence Zoroastrians hold for both geush-urvan and pasu-urvan, the latter often translated as the soul of animals. The verse goes on to say words to the effect that "they (animals) are to us, as we are to them". Sentiments similar to this lead us to the distinction between life forms that have a soul and organisms that are living (organic) such as plants but which do not have a soul.

In the Patet Pashemani(g), the prayers for repentance from sins, the category of mortal sins in Karta 3 includes whoever is "polluted with dead matter, cooks dead matter on a fire, throws dead matter into water and conceals dead matter under the earth" (cf. Vendidad 8.73 & Pahlavi Vendidad gloss to 7.52).

In all, Vegetarianism is consistent with the parallel Zoroastrian attitude towards the harm caused by dead flesh.

Call to be Vegetarians in the Writings of Zoroastrian Head Priests
Perhaps the most explicit call for Zoroastrians to be vegetarian is found in the Sayings of Adarbad Mahraspandan [Zoroastrian high priest and prime minister during the reign of Sasanid King Shapur II (309-379 CE)] which states:
“Abstain rigorously from eating the flesh of kine and all beneficent animals (gospandan) least you be made to face a strict reckoning in this world and the next; for by eating the flesh of kine and other domestic animals, you involve your hand in sin, and (thereby) think, speak, and do what is sinful; for though you may eat but a mouthful, you involve your hand in sin, and though a camel be slain by (another) person in another place, it is as if you (who eat its flesh) had slain it with your own hand.” [Adapted slightly for consistency from the translation by R. C. Zaehner in The Teachings of the Magi (London, 1956) pp. 110 ff. 13-15 and brought to our attention by Zaneta Garratt.]

High Priest Atrupat-e Emetan (Adarbad, son of Emedan) who officiated after the Arab invasion states in Book 6 of the 11th century CE Middle Persian (Pahlavi) Dinkard: “Be plant-eaters (urwar khwarishn i.e. vegetarian), O you people, so that you may live long. And stay away from the body of useful animals. As well, deeply reckon that Ohrmazd the Lord, has for the sake of benefiting useful animals created many plants.” (Translation by Eduljee)

The admonition of High Priest Atrupat-e Emetan in the Dinkard verse may relate to meat-eating in general and appears to encourage the practice of vegetarianism as a means of promoting good health and long life. In this lone passage, the head priest may also have been trying to say that vegetarianism is consistent with Zoroastrian ideals.

Other References
Frashogard, a journal of the Ilm-e Khshnoom movement, states that at frashogard (Avestan frasho-kereti i.e. making-anew or the final renovation) death will be no more with the connotation that humankind will then become vegetarian.

In the Middle Persian Bundahishn at 30.1 we have, "On the nature of the resurrection and future existence it says in revelation, that, whereas Mashye and Mashyane, who grew up from the earth, first fed upon water, then plants, then milk, and then meat, humans also, when their time of death has come, first desist from eating meat, then milk, then bread and then until they die, they will exist on water. 2. Thus in the millennium of Hoshedarmah, the strength of appetite (az) will thus diminish, and human beings will remain three days and nights in superabundance (sirih) through one taste of consecrated food. 3. Then they will desist from meat food, and eat vegetables and drink milk…."

Of particular interest to us here, is the sequence of learning to eat meat last and giving it up first.

In Chapter 39 of Bundahishn manuscript belonging to Tehmuras Dinshawji Anklesaria of Bombay (as cited by E. W. West in 1880), "the Arabs rushed into the country of Iran in great multitude... and their own irreligious law was propagated by them and many ancestral customs were destroyed, and eating of dead matter was put into practice. ...From the original creation until this day, evil more grievous than this has not happened...."

Classical Greco-Roman References
Diogenes Laertius on the Diet of the Magi and Magians
Vegetables, Cheese & Bread
Third century CE Greek biographer, noted in the prologue to his Biography of Eminent Philosophers (Prol. 7) that the Magi priests of Persia "dress in white, make their bed on the ground, and have as food vegetables, cheese, and coarse bread....".

Pliny's Natural History & Zarathushtra's Diet of Cheese
11.97 "Tradunt Zoroastren in desertis caseo vixisse annis xx ita temperato, ut vetustatem non sentiret."

(Translation by K. E. Eduljee) "It is reported that Zoroaster lived in the deserts (wilds?) on cheese for twenty years, so temperately (moderately/frugally), that he did not feel the effects of old age.

(Translation by J. Bostock): "It is said that Zoroaster lived thirty years in the wilderness upon cheese, prepared in such a peculiar manner, that he was insensible to the advances of old age."

The Efficacy of Spring Cheese
R. Hicks citing  J. Moulton (at Early Zoroastrianism, pp. 410-418) proposes that the Avestan "zaremyehe raoghnahe" in the Hadokht Nask 2.19 is a reference to the "cheese" mentioned by Pliny. Darmesteter in the note to his translation of the Hadokht Nask cites Visperad 1.2's Pahlavi commentary and the Dadistan-i Denig (see below) and further notes that butter from spring milk was "the best". We also find reference to "Maidyozarem roghan" in the Menog-i Kharad at 2.152 as the most beneficent of foods. This author notes that cheese rather than butter would have greater shelf-life and the simple ritual of eating cheese with flat bread is a popular Iranian tradition even to this day.

E. W. West's translation of the Dadistan-i Denig (Religious Decisions) 31.12-14 states, "...but in heaven (Garonmana?) there is no haste as to water and rejoicing with much delight they are like unto those who, as worldly beings, make an end of a meal of luxury (aurvazishnikih). To that also which is the spiritual completion of the soul's pleasure it is attaining in like proportion, and in its appearance to worldly beings it is a butter of the name of Maidyozarem. And the reason of that name of it is this, that of the material food in the world that which is the product of cattle is said to be the best (pashum), among the products of cattle in use as food is the butter of milk, and among butters that is extolled as to goodness which they shall make in the second month of the year, and when Mihr is in the constellation Taurus; as that month is scripturally (dinoiko) called Zaremaya (spring), the explanation of the name to be accounted for is this, that its worldly representative (andazako) is the best food in the world."

From the passages above we gather that the example set by Zarathushtra is the moderate consumption of food that is simple and frugal (and that luxurious foods have no place in heaven). Further, among the simple foods, cheese made in the second month of the year (May-June) is particularly noteworthy. Perhaps the reason for this is that the cows pasturing in the meadows of spring eat a variety of fresh herbs. If this is correct, then it is only cheese made from the milk of free ranging cattle in spring that is particularly health giving.

Community Traditions
Today, other than individuals or a sub-group such as the Parsee Vegetarian & Temperance Society, we have no consistent tradition of community-wide Zoroastrian vegetarianism. The Indian Zoroastrian bastions of Irani-Parsi food in India, the Irani cafés are noticeably non-vegetarian. Nevertheless, this author has heard Iranians state that according to tradition, consuming an excess of red meat and fats results in evil thoughts and make a person selfish.

Vegetation as the Source of Food. Aryan Agriculture
If first gathering and then growing plants (and not hunting or killing animals) were the primary source of food for the early Aryans, this has implications for the diet and food choices of the early settlers - a diet that would have been based on grains and vegetables. In those climates that do not permit year-round natural agriculture, grain and some vegetables, herbs, fruit and nuts - foods that lend themselves to drying and storing - would have provided a year-round source of food. Indeed, even in modern days, the distribution of dried fruits and nuts is continued during the seasonal Gahanbar feasts in Iran. In winter, grains would have been used not just in the making of flat breads such as naan, and cakes, but also in stew-like soups such as the Iranian aush. Storing fruit and natural fermentation could have lent to the discovery of wine-making.

In this context, we note that the archaeological finds along the northern slopes of the Kopet Dag mountains that form the modern border between Iran and Turkmenistan and which in ancient times were located in Parthava (Parthia) – or all of Central Asia for that matter – we find evidence of what might be some of the oldest settled agrarian communities known to humankind [see Nisaya]. Early Aryans also developed a system of water irrigation using the kareez underground water supply system [see Kareez]. Aryans had developed agricultural techniques early in their history.

If ancient Iranians or Zoroastrians were indeed vegetarian as a community, that tradition only survives in legend, for by the time the Greeks started to become the historians of the Persians during the Achaemenian era some 2,500 years ago, the Persians, and by implication Zoroastrians, were firmly meat-eaters.

Where Aryan Vegetarianism Survives
Aryan vegetarianism survives in some forms of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Buddhism originated in the eastern Gangetic state of Magadha. Some scholars postulate that Magadha was established by the Magi, the Magha (cf. Humbach). Their kings used the title 'Arya'. The Indian Aryans as well as the Bon who spread their faith from the Pamirs into Western Tibet (see post) are characterized by the use of the swastika symbol. But that is another story.

The Principle of Moderation
The Zoroastrian guiding principle for many life-style choices (not moral or ethical choices) is moderation between the extremes of too much and too little. Applying the principle of moderation does not preclude the need to apply the tests of goodness to every choice (for instance if something is helpful or harmful). This guiding principle applies to food and drink as part of one's life-style choices.

[Also see Moderation at Overview of Zoroastrianism.]

Bon, Zoroastrianism & Dualism

(Suggested prior reading: Iranian-Aryan Connections with Western Tibet. Also see God, Time and Creation in Zoroastrianism and Dual, Duality & Dualism. Definitions)

The ancient Bon religion that survives primarily as a minority religion in Tibet today, has some interesting connections with Zoroastrianism, the pre-Zoroastrian Aryan religion of ancient Indo-Iranians, as well as the now extinct branch of Zoroastrianism, Zurvanism. Bon's theological dualism finds connections with Zurvanism, while its philosophical dualism finds connections with Zoroastrianism. In Zurvanism, the first creative principle that embodied time and space give rise to the duality of light and darkness otherwise associated with a beneficent and destructive spirit respectively.

Bon doctrine and practice appear to have evolved greatly during the past thousand years and it is at times difficult to distinguish some of Bon's original teachings from its more modern borrowings from Buddhism, Hindu Saivism (Shiva worship) and even possibly Islam. Amongst several possibilities that exist regarding Aryan influence on Bon, there exists the possibility that Bon could have adopted its dualism doctrine in Central Asia from the early Indo-Iranians, or that the doctrine could have been brought over later by Iranians (including Sogdians) who fled to Tibet following the Islamic invasion. However, since Bon's dualism doctrine appears older and fairly distinct from Buddhist or Hindu theology and cosmology, the former possibility has the better claim.

The Bon dualism doctrine is as follows:

A creator is responsible for the creation of existence. The creator is variously named sNang ba 'od ldan, Kun snang khyab pa, and Khri khug rgyal po.

This creator God of the universe, Yang dag rgyal po, existed when there was no Sun, Moon or seasons but only non-being with the potentiality of being (srid).

In a striking resemblance to Zoroastrian theology and cosmology, Bon makes allusion to what existed in this state of non-being: light (or more correctly, what we can only describe as a type of light). Zoroastrianism would describe the essence of God as a pure spiritual light - light being the only physical simile to describe an indescribable spiritual state beyond human comprehension.

The potentiality of existence was actualized by the creator imparting to it an essential nature and thereby causing being to manifest itself in various aspects of the universe, namely, the world of appearance, this existence, snang srid.

All of existence exists because of an essential inherent nature - the concept being similar to the Zoroastrian Fravashi. This inherent nature imparts inherent properties that are manifest when a flame rises, a river descends and in creatures' instincts.

Existence has three phases:
1. Inactive being (byed mkan la mi ltos) that has existed since eternity (ye srid).
2. Active being (byed byas srid).
3. Differentiated being (rgyu mtshan gyi srid) which through material causes unfolded itself.

(Compare with The Process of Becoming at our page God, Time and Creation in Zoroastrianism.)

Differentiation is where the duality of existence arises. Both Zoroastrianism and Bon would hold that duality is a fundamental aspect of this universal existence - that without existential duality there would be no cosmos. However, the argument in Zoroastrianism is whether there was a differentiation from an undifferentiated state of being, or whether the duality of existence was uncreated, that is, duality was and is. There is enough material to fuel both sides of the argument. When orthodox Zoroastrianism adopted the latter position, Zurvanism arose to postulate the former position. Proponents of both positions read into the words of Zarathushtra support for their stand. [It is of great regret that most translations and interpretations of Zarathushtra's texts are heavily influenced by the bias and prior positions of writers or by proponents of positions.] Bon adopts the former position, namely, that an undifferentiated primordial state of being was differentiated in the process of creation or in the manifestation of this physical existence.

In the process of differentiation, there came into existence light (representing positivity) and darkness (or a not-light representing negation), and two entities representing creative, physical and existential principles: being and not-being, one radiant, Od zer ldam, and the other dark, Myal ba nag po. The bright entity named sNang srid sems can yod pa dga' ba'i bdag po, caused goodness, peace and joy. The dark entity caused evil, violence and grief. From the dark creature emerged demons, constellations, drought, pestilence and misfortune. The personification of philosophical concepts resulted in most aspects of the duality of being characterized as gods and demons.

There is some suggestion in the Bon texts that the principal of darkness preceded the principle of light or that at one point darkness gained ascendancy over light for the faith in lha (divine beings?) ceased. When the principle of light gained ascendancy, the faith in lha was restored and the struggle against demons commenced.

Let us take a moment to compare the words of Zarathushtra in the now famous, seminal and oft quoted verses, his hymns or gathas:

30.3 Now the two mainyu (spiritual entities) primordial
who were twin well-working, became
In thought and word and deed
separate, the better and the bad
And of these two the wise do rightly choose
but not so those in ignorance.

30.4 And now when the two mainyu together
foregathered, they produced
Being and not-being
which ultimately became in life
The baseness of the dregvant
and the ashavan's highest mind.

[Verses 30.1-30.4 and their translations by K. E. Eduljee can be found at Scripture Selections. Reading all the verses can help provide context.]

In reading the verses, it is not too difficult to assume equations, one being that the existential differentiated mainyu that were manifested as being and not-being were correspondingly and ultimately manifested as qualities of the mind: the highest mind and baseness. This latter equation is not necessarily so. For one thing, the order of the mind is reversed in Gatha 30.4. This author reads in the gathas that the duality of the mind is an outcome of the nature of existential duality but that one aspect of being does not necessarily manifest itself with a corresponding aspect of the mind and therefore an aspect of the ethical dichotomy: right and not-right. In other words, right is not a manifestation of being and neither is not-right a manifestation of not-being. Both, however, are manifestations of the dual nature of existential being.

If this writer may be permitted a further development; various existential aspects have an intrinsic twin aspect of negation: the element of being has an intrinsic dual opposite, not-being. These aspects do not however have attached intrinsic values of good and bad, or right and wrong. Being is not intrinsically good and not-being is not intrinsically bad. They are both "twin, well-working" (cf. the Gatha verses 30.3 & 4 quoted above) in the vastness of an inorganic cosmos.

Values are judgments placed on an existential element's positive and negative aspects in the microcosm of the human mind and perhaps in the minds of all creatures that have feelings. Beneficence or harm to a human being, a creature, their respective communities and the environment, can be a determinant of the value of good or bad placed on an aspect of the element.

The Impermanence of Spiritual and Temporal Existential Duality
Zoroastrianism does not see existential duality continuing without end. It sees the goal of existence as rising to a state of holistic perfection exemplified by the destruction of evil. Such a condition leads to a scenario where there is no ageing, no death, no fear and no violence. All forms of existential duality including light and darkness would cease to exist.

The absence of ageing could be said to assume that time itself will stand still bring to an end the regime of zravanahe daregho khvadhatahe - time of long dominion, time that can be measured. Perhaps, what will remain is zravanahe akarnahe - time infinite, unbounded and immeasurable - the form of time that existed before the institution of zravanahe daregho khvadhatahe. The existential space-time continuum of vayu-zravanahe will cease to exist.

One could therefore postulate that in one interpretation of Zoroastrian philosophy, existence rose from a unity and will end in a unity - duality having been the interim means for creation to have manifested itself and for humanity to progress from a state of imperfection to perfection.

[» Ref: The Religions of Tibet By Giuseppe Tucci, Geoffrey Samuel]

Duality & Dualism pages of this blog:
» Dual, Duality & Dualism. Definitions
» The Two - Ta Mainyu
» Yin-Yang Dualism. Development of the Concept
» Yin-Yang in Daoism / Taoism. The Daodejing by Laozi. Zhuangzi
» Plutarch. His Work, Duality and the Soul

Also see:
» God, Time and Creation in Zoroastrianism.

When Does the Zoroastrian Day Start? (Detailed)

(For a shortened version, click here)

Enquiry:
From: Arman Vaziri
Subject: Ushahin gah midnight to sunrise (originally perhaps the first watch)

Please provide further information (on):
"Ushahin gah - midnight to sunrise (originally perhaps the first watch) - dedicated to Sarosh"

Thanks,
Arman
_______________________________

[Note: The above excerpt within quotes (" ") was at http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/calenjavascript:void(0)dar/index.htm#daydivisions. In order to better understand my answer below, the reader may also wish to read the site's Calendar page. Briefly, the day according to Zoroastrian tradition is divided into five 'watches' called gahs or gehs, and the watch starting at daybreak is traditionally listed in prayer books as the first watch.

All six editions of the Khordeh Avesta (the Zoroastrian book of prayers) in my possession have placed the Havan gah (or geh), which begins at sunrise, as the first watch. I understand there is one editor of the Avesta who has placed the Ushahin gah - the watch that runs from midnight to daybreak, as the first watch.

Orthodox Zoroastrians pray during each watch, that is, they pray five times a day (a tradition that was also adopted by Muslims). The present orthodox tradition is that the day begins at daybreak / sunrise and ends just before daybreak.

The theory that the Ushahin gah was originally the first watch and therefore that the Zoroastrian day originally started at midnight rather than at day-break, has become a discussion topic.]
_______________________________

Our Response:
Dear Arman Vaziri,

I have not as yet found a direct reference in the Avesta (the Zoroastrian scriptures) or in classical Middle Persian Zoroastrian texts to support the theory that the Ushahin gah was originally the first watch and therefore that the Zoroastrian day originally started at midnight rather than at day-break. (If anyone is aware of such direct references, please send them to me.) The note on my web-page originally acknowledged the theory that we read on the website of the NAMC. I have reviewed the theory and as a result, modified the note. A summary of the information I have collated on this subject is as follows:

References:
1. The Bundahishn (a thousand year-old Middle Persian Zoroastrian text) states: "It is always necessary first to count the day and afterwards the night, for first the day goes off, and then the night comes on (Bundahishn Chapter 25)."

2. "In the seven months of summer the periods (gas) of the days and nights are five, namely, Hawan the period of day-break, Rapithwan the period of midday, Uziran the period of afternoon, Aiwisruthrem the period when the stars appear in the sky until midnight, and Ushahin the period from midnight until the stars become imperceptible. In winter there are four periods, and Hawan extends from daybreak until Uziran (Rapithwan is omitted) while the rest are as previously mentioned. (Bundahishn Chapter 25) [Note: the order of the gah / geh listing is the same as that used today. We see here a distinction between sunrise / daybreak and dawn. Also note the use of 'midday' and 'midnight'. Today, we assume this means 12 o'clock noon and 12 o'clock midnight. This is not the original meaning of midday and midnight. See notes below.]

3. "The summer day is twelve hasars, the night six hasars; the winter night is twelve hasars, the day six" (Bundahishn Chapter 25). [Note: This proportional allocation of day and night hours holds true in temperate zones such as Northern Iran and Central Asia. The Zoroastrian day has 18 hours compared to the 24 hours in the modern / Western day. A Zoroastrian hour is therefore equal to 1.33 western hours or 80 minutes.]

4. The existing editions of the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, overwhelmingly list the Havan gah, which starts at dawn, as the first watch or gah / geh. In doing so, they have maintained the tradition noted in the Bundahishn for the last thousand years. We also believe that the author of the Bundahishn did not invent the tradition but had recorded a long existing tradition.

Related Concepts:
1. According to Fariborz Rahnamoon, the coinciding of the start of a new day (now ruz) at sunrise with the start of the new year (sol-e now) was a particularly auspicious occasion. Rahnamoon states, "One such Nou Rouz that has been archaeologically recorded in history was in 487 BCE when the Vernal Equinox coincided with the sun rise at Takht e Jamshid (Persepolis). A square stone was placed in the central hall where the first rays of the rising sun would fall at the same time as the equinox." Rahnamoon further states that according to Middle Persian texts another such event took place on March 21, 1725 BCE when Zarathushtra inaugurated his observatory in Sistan (near the present day border between Iran and Afghanistan).

2. Havan gah is dedicated to Mithra as an angel and all the values of which Mithra is a guardian.

3. The use of midnight as the start of the day is a relatively modern concept that was first formally at the The International Meridian Conference held in Washington DC, USA on October 1884. At that conference, the following resolutions were passed: "4. That the Conference proposes the adoption of a universal day for all purposes for which it may be found convenient and which shall not interfere with the use of local or standard time where desirable. 5. That this universal day is to be a mean solar day is to begin for all the world at the moment of mean midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding with the beginning of the civil day and date of that meridian and is to be counted from zero up to twenty-four hours. 6. That the Conference expresses the hope that us soon as may be practicable the astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere begin at midnight" (Germany, San Domingo voted against 4., while Austria-Hungary and Spain voted against the resolution 5.) [Of interest is resolution 7. "That the Conference expresses the hope that the technical studies designed to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of angular space and of time shall be resumed, so as to permit he extension of this application to all cases in which it presents real advantages."] Dr Louis Strous at Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University states, "In the western calendars it is nowadays customary to begin a new calendar day at midnight. Various sources say that this custom began only in the 19th century, but they do not explain why. It became necessary to standardize times when transportation by trains began from about 1840, because the train schedules would become very complicated if they had to take the local times of all stations into account." Given that most British trains travelled during the day, changing the day at noon would have introduced scheduling complexities avoided by starting the day at midnight. [Note: the reference to 'local times of all stations.' It was common for different communities to use different local times - and this who have involved the start of the day - even within one country (say, England). According to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich "Before this (the international agreement), almost every town in the world kept its own local time. There were no national or international conventions to set how time should be measured, or when the day would begin and end, or what the length of an hour might be."]

4. Noon Greenwich Mean Time is not always the moment when the sun crosses the Greenwich meridian (and reaches its highest point in the sky in Greenwich) at noon. This is because of the earth's uneven speed in its elliptic orbit together with its axial tilt. The sun's meridian crossing can occur up to 16 minutes from noon GMT, a discrepancy known as the equation of time. Noon GMT is a fictitious 'mean', an annual average that necessitates the inclusion of 'mean' in Greenwich Mean Time. 12 midnight is calculated from 12 noon.

5. While the Meridian Conference established midnight i.e. 12 midnight as the start of the civil day i.e. 0:00 hours, the astronomical day used midday i.e. 12 noon as the start of the day - a practice that continued until January 1, 1925.

6. The Islamic and Jewish religions start their day at sunset (sundown). Their day therefore starts with the twilight and night hours. The Vedic Hindu tradition starts its day at sunrise.

7. The Avestan word ushah is similar to the Rig-Vedic word usha / usas, translated as dawn. In the Vedas, hymns to Usha can be found in Samhita section of the RgVeda.
Verse 48.5 reads "Like a good matron Usas comes carefully tending everything: rousing all life she stirs all creatures that have feet, and makes the birds of air fly up."
48.9: "Shine on us with your radiant light, O Usas, Daughter of the Sky... ."
48.15 "Usas, as you with light to day have opened the twin doors of heaven... ."
49.3: "Bright Usas, when your times return, all quadrupeds and bipeds stir, and round about flock winged birds from all the boundaries of heaven."
49.4 "Your dawning with your beams of light illumines all the radiant realm."
92.5 "We have beheld the brightness of her shining; it spreads and drives away the dark horned monster."
113.3 "Common, unending is the Sisters' pathway; taught by the Gods, alternately they travel. Fair-formed, of different hues and yet one-minded, Night and Dawn clash not, neither do they travel."
113.8 "She first of endless morns to come hereafter, follows the path of morns that have departed."
113.9 "As you, Dawn, has caused Agni to be kindled, and with the Sun's eye has revealed creation."
113.14 "In the sky's borders had she shone in splendour: the Goddess had thrown off the veil of darkness."
113.16 "Arise! the breath, the life, again has reached us: darkness has passed away and light approaches. She for the Sun had left a path to travel we have arrived where men prolong existence."
113.20 "Whatever splendid wealth the Dawns bring with them to bless the man who offers praise and worship, Even that may Mitra, Varuna grant us a boon, and Aditi and Sindhu, Earth and Heaven."
123.5 "Sister of Varuna, sister of Bhaga, first among all sing forth, O joyous Morning."
123.6 "The far-refulgent Mornings make apparent the lovely treasures which the darkness had covered."
123.7 "The one departs and the other arrives: unlike in hue days, the halves march on successively."
124.11 "She will beam forth, the light will hasten her and Agni will be present in each dwelling."

8. In the Islamic tradition, the five watches start with dawn and are: 1. Fajr - dawn to sunrise, 2. Dhuhr - afternoon (noon to the mid point between noon and sunset e.g. 3:30 pm for a 7:00 pm sunset), 3. Asr - mid-afternoon to sunset, 4. Maghrib - dusk, sunset to night, 5. 'Isha - night (to dawn?). The Islamic tradition of praying five times a day during five watches is similar to the Zoroastrian tradition.

Discussion:
1. During the grand festival of Nowruz, the new-day (now-ruz) of the New Year (sol-e now), celebrated by the Achaemenians at Persepolis (cf. Fariborz Rahnammon above) occured at sunrise on March 21, 487 BCE. The new-day (now-ruz) did not start at midnight.

2. The Zoroastrian tradition (see note on Yalda above) intuitively tells us that night and darkness are associated with evil, while light and brightness are associated with good. It is counter-intuitive to think that Zoroastrians would have instituted the new day (now-ruz) to begin at midnight - a point in time that would have been difficult to measure by the common person in ancient times.

3. While the Vedic verses are not precise about the distinction between dawn and sunrise, the Vedic day nevertheless begins with sunrise. The Vedic and Zoroastrian concepts of dawn and the start of the day bear parallels. In addition, the Rig-Vedic verses to Usha frequently refer to chariots reminiscent of the chariots of Mithra.

4. The traditional semetic (Jewish and Islamic) start of the day is sunset. The traditional Aryan (Zoroastrian and Vedic Hindu) start of the day is sunrise. The present international start of the day at midnight is a modern innovation motivated initially by maritime and railway interests.

5. In the era before the common use of clocks that could measure the hour and minute, sunrise and sunset were respectively the start of the day and night. They were and are natural observable events. These were most likely the primitive divisions of the day. Dawn (just before sunrise) and dusk (just after sunset) were also naturally observable events. In nature, a large number of animals began to 'stir' during dawn and bed-down during dusk. The next divisions that required some form of basic calculation or measurement were likely midday and midnight. They were precisely what the words state - the (variable) mid points of the day (between sunrise and sunset) and night (between sunset and sunrise) and not the fixed clock-based 0:00 and 12:00 hours of today.

6. Continuing the process of determining intervals during the day, Zoroastrians divided the day into eighteen hisars and they would have had to have some method of measuring the passage of a hisar. The first hisar would have started at sunrise. While this may sound strange today, a moveable start for the day was quite common until just some two hundred years ago. Using sunrise / daybreak as the start of the day is far more intuitive than midnight. Even today, the expressions "It's a new day" or "Tomorrow is a new day" use the word 'day'. Regardless of what a day means technically, in common usage, our day starts when we get up from our sleep.

7. When Zoroastrianism developed five divisions of the day, the indicators for the purposes of knowing when a geh / gah started, in urban areas, the ringing of a bell by priests who might have access to some method of time-keeping could have informed the neighbourhood within ear-shot of the change in watch. In remote areas, especially in ancient times, expecting each household to have a time-keeping mechanism that could consistently and accurately measure minutes including signaling 0:00 hours at midnight, is unrealistic. Before the invention of mechanical devices, we can expect that the ancients would have used natural indicators of the passage of time such as sunrise, changing shadow lengths and direction, sunset and the movement of stars. A more sophisticated method of using natural indicators to measure the passage of time would have been an observatory (known examples of old Indo-Iranian observatories are a collection of structures that observed and measured various natural events) and as Fariborz Rahnamoon states, Zarathushtra is reputed to have built one such observatory.

8. The practice of praying during the end and start of the day appears to have been as follows (also see Mary Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I, page 259, note 36): The laity would have said the Aiwisruthrem gah (sunset to midnight) prayers just before going sleep and the Ushahin gah (midnight to sunrise) prayers upon waking up - just before dawn (usah / usha) i.e., when the skies begin to lighten and the stars fade from view. We can attest to this tradition from personal experience. The hours of sleep would have been the eight hours (six hasars) from dusk to dawn in winter.

9. The laity upon awakening would have recited the Ushahin gah prayers before the stars become imperceptible in the lightening skies of dawn. The Havan gah is ushered in by the first rays of the rising sun shining through - the light of Mithra. The two sets of prayers associated with the Ushahin and Havan gah appear to form a continuum. For instance, the Ushahin gah prayers list of the first four Amesha Spentas (vohu mano yazamaide, ashem vahishtem yazamaide, khshathrem vairim yazamaide, spentam vanguhim armaitim yazamaide) and the Havan gah prayers appear to continue and conclude the listing (haurvatatem ashavanem ashahe ratum yazamaide, ameretatatem ashavanem ashahe ratum yazamaide). Perhaps the continuum can be compared to that of dawn and sunrise at daybreak. However, while the Ushahin gah prayers are recited when one awakes at the break of dawn (when the skies begin to lighten but before the first rays of the sun are observed), the gah and dawn are still a part of the previous night. The new day (now ruz) does not begin at dawn - it begins when the sun casts its first rays at sunrise. If we may be permitted an analogy, we can compare this concept to the blooming of the first spring flowers a few days before New Year's day at the spring equinox. While they are the new year's spring flowers, they nevertheless started to bloom at a time when it was still winter in the Zoroastrian calendar's previous year.

10. In verse 44.5 of the Gathas, the hymns of Zarathushtra, rhetorically asks God:
"This of You I ask; tell me truly Lord,
Which artisan made light and darkness?
Which artisan made sleep and wakefulness?
Who at dawn, noon and dusk
Instills the discerning person with purpose?"
'Dawn, noon and dusk' is also translated as 'dawn, day and night'. Some feel that this sequence demonstrates that Zarathushtra intended there to be three divisions in a day with the day starting with dawn which they extrapolate to mean midnight since the Ushahin gah starts at midnight. All this amounts to a huge stretch of logic laden with extra words, assumptions, and bias. By the same logic system, the first sequence i.e. light and darkness can be used indicate that Zarathushtra intended the day to start with daylight followed by darkness. The verse is a rhetorical questioning about the cause of creation, its different manifestations, and understanding the purpose of life. An attempt to extract too much from the verse can lead to errors and a detraction from the verse's central message which is far deeper. We do not read this hymn as establishing the watches or gahs / gehs.

11. In the Islamic tradition of the five watches and prayers (see Related Concepts #8 above), even though their day starts at sunset, in the listing of the watches, the first watch starts with dawn. The Islamic tradition is close to the Zoroastrian tradition causing some to believe the former was adopted by the latter. In the Islamic tradition, however, dawn is separated from the nighttime watch and placed as a separate watch while the morning watch is omitted.

12. We can contrast the old Zoroastrian time / calendar tradition with the modern Western system in the following manner: The Zoroastrian tradition starts the day at sunrise (a fresh start to a new day) and ends the day at dawn. The Zoroastrian tradition also starts the New Year at the beginning of spring (metaphorically a fresh start to a new year when nature 'awakes') and ends the year at the end of winter (cf. the end of nature's sleep-time). In contrast, the Western system starts the 'day' in the middle of the night and similarly celebrates New Year's day in the midst of winter.

Regards

K. E. Eduljee

Visit our page at:
http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/