Worship
1. Where people worshipThe offering of praise and reverence to God via a religious service – the building.
2. How people worship – the practice & expression.
3. Why people worship – the motivation, individual and congregational.
4. Main places of worship & their importance to the community of faith.
5. Nature of pilgrimage and pilgrimage sites.
6. Sacred place/sacred space – reducing the distance between GodWord used to describe a personal transcendent Being and humans.
7. Relationship between belief and architecture, space.
Zoroastrians worship, in the sense of praying, anywhere facing Ahura MazdaEmbodiment of good (often known as God) 's creation, fire, light or water. The sudre kusti prayersPrayers involving the sacred Sudre and Kits received during initiation. are the key form of daily worship. There is no compulsion to visit the fire temple (Dar-i Mihr, Persian for Court of Mithra, or Agiary, Gujarati for House of Fire), nor any special day of the week. In practice most ParsisEarly followers of Zoroaster. in India visit often as part of their daily routine, calling on the way to work. At the entrance to the temple there is a place to wash the exposed parts of the body and say the sudreSacred shirt given / received during initiation and worn throughout a follower's life. kusti prayers to cleanse themselves physically and spiritually. Outside shoes are removed. In India, only Parsis or Iranian Zoroastrians may enter, whereas in Iran there is more open access. There is usually a hall inside the entrance with pictures of the heroes of the faith such as the prophet ZoroasterProphet / founder of Zoroastrianism. , the benefactor who built the temple and revered priests of former times. These meant to inspire the worshipper. The prayer room is oblong in shape with one wall forming the sanctuary and surrounded by other walls, and including a doorway through which the officiating priest (Mobed) enters. The Mobed feeds the fire with sweet smelling sandalwood five times a day. The priest wears clothes with a cap and a mask over his mouth (padanSpecial white clothes worn by the priest, including cap & mask. ) and nose in order to ensure he does not defile the fire with his impure breath. The worshipper kneels and bows his or her head before the fire, having previously left an offering of sandalwood in the doorway for the priest to lie on the fire. The worshipper takes a pinch of ash from a metal 'spoon' and puts it on his forehead in order to unite himself with the fire. (S)he then stands reciting prayers before the sacred fire (AtashSacred fire ) in which Ahura Mazda is thought to be physically present (see 'Symbols 1 & 2'). Prayer is individual, and not congregational, with the worshipper approaching Ahura Mazda alone even when in the company of others.
Ceremonies are a time for people to gather; jashansCeremony for a variety of occasions. can be celebrations with the wording changed to suit the occasion. These include, a blessing for a new home (in which case it is held in the home), to celebrate an important event or as a petition, for example, for rain. For these there should be at least 4 priests with any number of devotees from few to several hundred. However, worship remains individual as worshippers gain spiritual sustenance through watching the priestly rituals. Prayers are said in the ancient sacred language of AvestanAncient sacred language. in order that worshippers share the visionary experience of the prophet and because the words are believed to have spiritual power.
The fire temple will also have a ritual room, urvisgahRoom outside of the Temple where priests perform rituals. , where the higher ceremonies are performed by the priests on behalf of the laity, for example in memory of the deceased. Laity may attend these ceremonies but rarely do.
There are two grades of fire temple according to the category of fire within (there is also a third grade of fire which can be burnt by any Zoroastrian at home). The grade is determined by the type of consecration. The highest grade of temple is the Atash BahramCathedral fire temples / consecrated fire found in the highest grade of Temple. sometimes referred to as 'Cathedral' Fire Temples. These are often the foci of pilgrimage. The Fire Temple in the small Indian village of UdwadaFire temple in village of Udvada, Gujarat. contains a fire which continues to burn following its consecration after the Parsis arrived in India (probably eighth century CE) and which has been tended by teams of priests ever since. It is popularly known as IranshahSacred fire believed to have been burning since the eighth century. - the King of Iran. In recent times, a custom has developed of trying to visit all eight Indian Atash Bahrams in one day (all located in Mumbai and Gujarat) to derive spiritual power from all the most sacred fires.
The 'ordinary' Dar-i Mihrs or agiaris have the second grade of fire - AdaranSacred fire although not as holy as the Behram. . They might aptly be called spiritual power houses as one stands in the presence of the divineThat which is holy. There is no set architectural style although most are decorated with motifs from the ancient royal Iranian palace of PersepolisAncient ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. dating from the sixth century BCE.
Websites
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/z/zoroastrianism.html
Bibliography
‘Abdu'l-Bahá, 1972. Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris, 1911-1912. London: UK Bahá'í Publishing Trust
Boyce, M., 1984. Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Boyce, M., 1997. 'Zoroastrianism'. In Hinnells, J.R. (ed.). New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Boyce, M., 1977. A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Boyce, M., 2000. Zoroastrians: their religious beliefs and practices, 2ed. London: Routledge.
Hinnells, J.R., 1985. Persian Mythology. London: Newnes Books.
Hinnells, J.R., 1996. Zoroastrians in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hinnells, J.R., 2000. Zoroastrian and Parsi Studies: Selected works of John R. Hinnells. Aldershot: Ashgate. On Zoroastrian influence on the Bible.
Hinnells, J.R., 2001. Penguin Dictionary of Religions. London: Penguin.
Hinnells, J.R., 2005. The Zoroastrian Diaspora. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
SHAP (Shap Working Party), 1998. Festivals in World Religions. s.l.: s.n.
Zaehner, R.C., 1961. The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. (some of the earlier chapters are now disputed)
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