The Festival of Navroze, the New Year celebrated on 21st March marks the change in season ushered by the Spring Equinox.
Its origins lie in the seasonal festivals of Central Asia and it acquired a religious significance for the Zoroastrians, followers of Prophet Zarathushtra, who preached his philosophy in ancient Iran around 1600 BC.
A small little miniscule community of "happy go lucky" people as it is fondly identified with, we are almost all over the place.
You surely cant miss a BAWA!
"Bawaji" "chal ni dikra" "su karech" "jamva chalo ji" these are phrases you must have surely heard once. One cant seem to miss these in movies, theatres, plays with parsi characters!
If you don't know a bawa for real (makes us sound like dinosaurs) you'd sure know one "on screen"
A lot of us know parsis, bawajis, iranis .. but most of us don't know anything about the festivals or rituals or celebrations of the community.
Navroze is one of the bank holidays parsis contribute to your annual holiday list and you ought to know why we celebrate it and its significance atleast!
But before I write about Navroze (my real intention to write this blog) a little introduction to the community ...who are parsis?!
We are a small religious community, which exists mostly in Mumbai and Pune and in smaller numbers in other cities of India.
The religion of Zoroastrianism was established by Zarathustra in 6th or 7th century BC.
The followers of this religion exiled from Iran in the 7th century AD because of the religious persecutions by the Muslims.
They arrived in India at the Gujarat region and were warmly welcomed by the people of Sanjan. Since then we came to be known as "Parsis" (since we had arrived from the land of Persia)
Parsis believe in the existence of one invisible God. We believe that there is a continuous war between the good forces (forces of light) and the evil forces (forces of darkness).
The community practices the philosophy of Good thoughts. Good words. Good deeds.
We preachfire. The symbol of light which signifies purity. And hence our temples are called the fire temples.
The holy language of the Parsis is an ancient language spoken in Iran, Avesta. However most parsis in India have adopted gujarati as their mother tongue.
The Parsis are less then 0.02% of India's population but their contribution to India is much more than their proportion in India's population.
The rich Parsi families contributed enormously to establish institutions of all kinds in India. Even today some of the bigger finance houses in India belong to followers of this religion.
Aahhh... a lot said about us ... Coming back to where I began...
Navroze is the beginning of the New Year for the Parsis of India and is also celebrated as a Spring Festival by the Kashmiri Community of India.
Navroze is a part of the Zoroastrian respect for the environment. This festival of the agricultural season became dedicated to Ahura Mazda(Lord of Wisdom) and the Amesha Spenta (Holy Immortals) as part of the Gahambar(celebrations of the seasons)
Navroze or the New Year is the largest and most holy celebration, dedicated to Spring, Fire and Righteousness. Navroze has links with the dawn of Zoroastrian history and the legend of King Jamshed of Iran. This is why among the Zoroastrians it is also called Jamshedi Navroze.
Celebrated on 21st March, the Spring Equinox, it is the time of cleansing the house and spiritually rejuvenating the self. It is characterized by a sense of new life, the ploughing of the fields for spring planting, the wearing of new clothes and the sprouting of fresh greenery, which is placed on the specially decorated "Navroze table".
In honour of this feast, there are a series of customs marked by the number seven. This number represents the seven Amesha Spenta (the special Angels of Zoroastrianism) and particular food items are prepared in homes to be set on this table.
There are special dishes for breakfast - one is 'Ravo' prepared with suji, milk and sugar and the other is 'Sev' fried vermicelli cooked in sugar preparation and decorated with dry fruits.
After breakfast, Parsis and Iranis visit the Fire Temple or Agiary for a special thanks-giving prayer called, 'Jashan'. They also offer sandalwood to the Holy Fire.
There is also a custom to keep a copy of the Gathas(holy books) , a lit lamp, an Afarigan (live holy fire), a bowl of water containing live fish, a shallow earthenware plate with sprouted wheat or beans for prosperity, flowers for colour, a silver coin for wealth, painted eggs for productivity, and sweets and rosewater in bowls for sweetness and happiness on a table.
Apart from these, the table also has seven foods beginning with 'sh' and 'sa'. These are meant to symbolise creation.
Food forms an essential part of Navroz celebrations.
‘Faluda’ i.e. milk flavoured with rose essence, is the traditional drink prepared on this day.
Pulao, rich with saffron, is a must for the lunch on Navroz.
’Ravo’, a popular Parsi dish is also made on this day.
The Navroz table has seven food items beginning with ‘sh’ (in Persian):
1. sharab (wine)
2. shakar (sugar)
3. shir (milk)
4. shirin berenjor (sweet meat)
5. shahad (honey)
6. shirin (sweet) and
7. shira (syrup)
The table also lays down seven eatables beginning with‘s’:
1. sirka (vinegar)
2.sumac (spice)
3.sumanu (pudding made from wheat germ)
4. sib (apple)
5. sabzi (green vegetables)
6. senjed (sorb tree berry) and
7. seer (garlic).
Each of these food items signifies creation.
Along with these, fresh fruits, dried fruits, nuts, and various seeds are also placed on the table.
The lady of the house takes the visitors to the table, traditional rituals are performed and then everyone sits down to share and eat these food items and celebrate.
I wish all parsis and iranis a vajtu gajtu haastu raamtu Navroze Mubarak and a humble invitation to all my friends and relatives to visit us on the 21st March 2013 or on anyone of the 13 days thereafter to celebrate the onset of happiness and prosperity.
Excuse the length and detailed description of the blog. But I simply can't cut it short sometimes! (Most times)
:p
Love
Shaz
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