Zoroastrianism

Parsi or Zarathushtrian?

Why do Zarathushtrians have three calendars?

We have three calendars because of a mistake made hundreds of years ago. Now this mistake is so much a part of tradition that to rectify it with good grace would be a Herculean task. This matter is unlikely to be resolved unless Zarathushtrians the world over unite and take a collective decision to adopt one calendar.

At the time of Asho Zarathushtra the people followed the agricultural seasons and celebrated gahambhars as a mark of the changing seasons. The vernal equinox (20-21 March) was treated as the beginning of spring, and hence the beginning of the new year. This is why this calendar is referred to as Fasli as it follows the fasls (crop) seasons. Names of the months of this calendar are not known.

Later, the Shahanshahi (or royal) calendar was adopted. The Shahanshahi calendar marked the monarch's accession to the throne as the first year of the period. Therefore you may have year one of the reign of Khusro, year two of the reign of Khusro and so on, till a new monarch came on the throne and the whole process started again. Currently, contrary to common sense, we are in the 1368h year of Yazdegard III, the last Sassanian king.

The Zarathushtrian calendar had 12 months of 30 days each, totalling to 360 days. The five extra days were named after the five Gathas. Every 120 years they would add an extra month. This kept the calendar in place and March 21 was still celebrated as Navroz.

Then in the eighth century AD, the Sassanian Empire collapsed. The Parsis in India were cut off from the Zarathushtrians still living in Iran. As years went by the people forgot to add those extra months every 120 years and soon the Navroz drifted away from March 21. In 1745, the Parsis realised that they had forgotten to add the month and proceeded to do so. This caused the one month difference between the Qadimi (ancient) calendar being followed by the Irani Zarathushtrians, and the Shahanshai calendar followed by the Parsis. Currently (in 2005) the Qadimi navroze falls in July and the Shahanshai navroz falls in August.

In the last few decades, there has been a movement to revert to the Fasli calendar as the present Qadimi and Shahnshai calendar celebrate the main festivals in all the wrong months. For example, the Farvardin Yasht tells us that Asho Zarathushtra was born in spring, yet we celebrate his birth anniversary in August. However, entrenched traditionalism has not allowed this movement to gain momentum.

You think of Parsis and you think of dhansaak. Why is this so?

Cuisine forms an intrinsic part of peoples' identity. For instance, you think of lasagna and you think of Italians, or you think of sorpital and you think of the Goans. In the same way, dhansaak is particular to the food that Parsis eat.

Dhansaak is traditionally associated with gahambars and chahrams, in all likelihood for the same reason - it is served when community members gather together.

Gahambars were festivals in ancient Iran, held to mark the various agricultural seasons (sowing, harvesting). Time was precious during these periods because weather was unpredictable. Therefore, every able community member was expected to chip in and help with the work. For convenience sake the food for all the workers was cooked together. Each family gave a little of what they could - grain , vegetables, meat - and all of it was mixed together and left to simmer. The whole community then shared the resulting stew. This promoted fellowship and strengthened ties. The Parsis continued the tradition in India, but because the grains are different the saag tasted unlike what the Iranians used to have. Also, the Parsis ate it with dhan (rice).

It is likely that dhansaak is served on chahram (the fourth day after the death of a family member) because in the past on such occasions people travelled from far flung villages, and the bereaved hosts, faced with feeding large numbers of well wishers, cooked a substantial meal that was not too bothersome to prepare. Also, as this was the first meat dish to be eaten after the death of a family member, it suited the pockets of all economic levels because it could contain as much or as little meat as they could afford.

By the way, practicality rather than any religious significance was the motivating reason why the tradition of eating vegetarian food for the first three days after a death in the family. Besides the fact that vegetarian food is quicker to cook, and easier to digest, host families could rarely afford to sacrifice their livestock to feed the hordes of visitors who came to stay. The story that evil spirits would attack those who ate meat during the first three days after the death of a relative probably evolved to justify the vegetarian menu.

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Information provided by Farishta Murzban Dinshaw