Proud of Being A Parsi- Brief About My religion

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Zorastrianism is the world's oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago. Zorastrianism is split into sections of people which are Iranis and Parsis. In the 10th Century, a group of Irani people who were immigrants landed on the shores of Gujarat in India in order to save themselves from Islamic people. They started living in Gujarat, India and started following the gujarati rituals and traditions. The women started to wear sarees gujarati style with a twist of parsi style lace embroidered on the saree. They started speaking gujarati language too. Parsis are a very small community residing in India. Mostly they are jovial by nature, believe in living life fully, giving more importance to education, foody by nature as well as believe in doing lot of philantrophy/social work for the betterment of society. Parsis visit the fire temple named as Agiary. The Zorastrian book of Holy Scriptures is called The Avesta. Parsis strongly believe in the maxim " Good thoughts, good words and good deeds". They live their life practising this principle throughout their lives. Many eminent parsi personalities who have contributed to India and the world are as follows:- 1. Homi Bhabha 2. J.R.D. Tata 3. Dadabhai Nawrojee 4. Ratan Tata 5. Adi Godrej 6. Field marshal Sam Manekshahs These are some of the prominent parsi personalities who have contributed much into the society. One can find parsis working in different sectors throughout the world. Parsis festivals are mainly 2 i.e. Khordad Saal and Nowruz 1. Khordad Saal- Khordad Saal is celebrated as the birthday of Zoroaster. This happens six days after Noruz. The chosen date is symbolic as the actual date of the Prophet's birth cannot be identified accurately. This festival is considered one of the most important in the Zorastrian Calender. Zorastrians gather in Fire Temples for prayers and then celebrate with feasting on yummy food. 2. Nowruz- Nowruz also known as Jamshedji Nawroz is the Zorastrian New Year and is celebrated on Spring Equinox. Nowruz is so deeply embedded in Iranian Culture that it is still celebrated as The Iranian New Year in Islamic Iran. One of the very important ceremony performed in Parsis is The Navjote Ceremony wherein the child aged between 7 to 12 years old is involved into the religion by the Parsi Priest by reciting prayers and making them wear "sadreh" ( a cotton white garment which is worn by the child) and kushti (a thread which is tied around the waist). Funeral Ceremony in Parsis is also very different in comparison with other religions. Parsis dont believe in polluting 4 elements of nature i.e. Earth, Air, Fire and Water so the dead bodies are kept on an open well and is given for the birds especially Vultures to feed on it, thereby believing in the philosophy of providing food to the birds while exiting this world. The place is called "The Tower of Silence". However, due to the decrease in the population of vultures, some parsis come up with wish of disposing their bodies through cremation or by using solar panels. Still the traditional method of disposing off the bodies is widely prevalent and followed by them.