Possibly the least inclusive community in existence — you can't convert to Zoroastrianism, and it is patrilineal — Zoroastrians need to widen their admission criteria fast, or go the way of the lesser Antillean macaw and the koala lemur. I say this not because I'm after membership — the Zoroastrian beliefs of my mother's side of the family do not appeal — but because, as the wide-ranging Soas exhibition amply demonstrates, it is a fascinating ancient community that predates even Judaism.
Originating in Iran in approximately 1,BC, founded by the badass apocalyptic prophet Zoroaster, it is the first monotheistic religion, and is based on a simple equation of good Ahura Mazda versus evil Ahriman.
Good symbolises creativity, and evil is tantamount to destruction — in the event that there is more evil in the world than good, the planet will be destroyed, so all Zoroastrians must vow to live by the motto "good thoughts, good words, good deeds". One of the leading world religions for a millennium, Zoroastrianism is best known for its fire temples. Followers believe fire symbolises God's purity and wisdom, so worship in front of a flame.
It is also famous for its towers of silence, enclosed spaces where the dead bodies of Zoroastrians are placed to be devoured by vultures. The holy book is called the Avesta, split into two sections much like the Old and New Testaments, full of stories and myths , and the initiation ritual is named the Navjote ceremony.
As the child of a female Zoroastrian, I was not permitted to follow in my mother's footsteps and undertake the Navjote; whether I am even allowed to call myself Parsi is debatable, although as it is an ethnicity, it is hard to know what else to term myself. And, as a non-Zoroastrian, I am not allowed into the fire temples. The faith is inextricably linked to the Parsi and Irani communities — you don't find Zoroastrians of any other ethnicity.
Corinne Redfern spends a week with the Zoroastrians. Some days, when Duya Ahmed Gadir wakes up, she lies in bed a little longer than usual. Against the buzz of an air conditioning pump outside her window, the year-old whispers a quiet mantra — a promise to think good thoughts, say good words and complete good deeds.
But when she does remember, it calms her. As a Zoroastrian, this three-pillared promise is her only prayer. Three million people are homeless because of them. On a global level, this misrepresentation is part of the reason the hashtag notinmyname has become so prevalent worldwide.
Nevertheless, Duya is one of more than Kurdish women who have risked their lives to officially convert to Zoroastrianism over the past 18 months, after reading about the inherently feminist, liberal religion on Facebook. Once there, it seemed like a semi-utopia, to be suddenly surrounded by women of all ages and backgrounds, wearing long, traditional dresses teamed with bright, spiked heels.
Even in Kalar — a city heavily protected from Isis — things are bad. Men are also turning up at the Sulaymaniyah Atashgah. He now visits once every two months for spiritual guidance and reassurance. They tend to cluster around two general tendencies, reformist and traditionalist, but even within these groups the variation is considerable. Nevertheless, there are those who believe in the missionary nature of Zoroastrianism and go so far as to encourage active proselytism.
On the traditionalist side some moderates permit the acceptance of spouses and the offspring of mixed marriages, but the strict constructionists refuse to accept as coreligionists even Zoroastrians who marry outside the faith and consider children born of such unions illegitimate. The issue is of practical importance, for it affects admission to fire temples Boyce, , p. The Gathas the part of the Avesta attributed to Zoroaster , as well as other Avestan and Pahlavi texts, are cited by both sides to justify their positions see i, above.
The passage quoted most often by those who favor accepting converts is Yasna Several other verses of the Gathas, especially Yasna Moreover, liberals hold that the intrinsically nonritualistic doctrine of the Gathas degenerated into an Iranian ideology as a result of language and other barriers Antia, pp.
Traditionalists, on the other hand, accuse proponents of conversion of heretical distortion of scripture and maintain that blood and faith are a linked heritage. The divergence in interpretation also extends to history. Traditionalists cite the general tolerance of other religious populations by the Achaemenid and Parthian dynasties as evidence that Zoroastrianism was intended to be the religion of a single ethnic group Irani, pp.
After the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century and the establishment of Islam as the religion of the new rulers, some Zoroastrians emigrated to India the Parsis. They also cite the response of the Persian priests to a Parsi inquiry about the conversion of Hindu servant boys and girls Persian Rivayats , tr. Dhabhar, p. Whereas the Persian Zoroastrian communities never explicitly opposed the acceptance of converts, since the 18th century Indian Parsi councils have generally refused to accept as Zoroastrians persons other than children of Parsi parents, though there have been sporadic rulings allowing acceptance of the children of mixed marriages.
This rigor may be ascribed to the pressures of the caste structure in India, reinforced by the growing prosperity of the Parsi social-welfare system, a possible incentive for seeking admission to the Zoroastrian fold.
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