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This is a traditional set up for the Jashan (blessing) ceremony for the inauguration of the new building. A small Afarghanyu (fire vessel) is filled with sandalwood for the holy fire. Tongs, which lay on both sides of the urn, are used to arrange the sandalwood to ensure it continuously burns throughout the ceremony. [Source]

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Source: Wikipedia

Zoroaster/Zarathustra

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The Holy Immortals

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What Is Zoroastrianism?

2500 years ago, Zoroastrianism was the world’s most powerful religion and since then it has had a major influence on Christianity, Islam and Judaism. With followers from Freddie Mercury to Nietzsche, many argue that it shaped the world as we know it. Today, it is one of the smallest religions, with around 150,000 followers. How did it lose its power and what does it mean to be a Zoroastrian today?

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A Zoroastrian flag in the exhibit hall of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago on Aug. 15, 2023. Photo by Lauren Pond for RNS

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March 21, 2022: Parsi women walk next to a bas-relief depicting early Zoroastrians at a Parsi colony on Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Mumbai, India. Parsis, also known as Zoroastrians, worship fire and are followers of the Bronze Age Persian prophet Zarathustra.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

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Parsi priests outside a fire temple in Gujarat, India. Photograph: IndiaPictures/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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A Parsi navjote ceremony in Mumbai in 2016. Photograph: Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo

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Students at the Dadar Athornan Institute learn theology and ritual practices of the Zoroastrian faith in Mumbai, India, on Oct. 11, 2023. (RNS photo/Priyadarshini Sen)

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A Parsi fire temple visited frequently by Zoroastrians in Mumbai, India, Oct. 11, 2023. (RNS photo/Priyadarshini Sen)

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According to the legend, Saint Sebastian freed the village of Olvan (Central Catalonia) from the plague. To show their thanks, the village made an eternal vow that every year on Saint Sebastian's Day (January 20th), they would feed every poor, homeless and beggar person who was in the village.

Since then, they have kept and expanded the vow. Olvan celebrates Saint Sebastian's Day with a communal meal of rice cooked by the neighbours. Even though the town only has 876 inhabitants, every year they serve between 1,400 and 2,000 meals 🥘

Photos: Fem Turisme, Aquí Berguedà, tasta.cat.

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Zoroastrian temple of Chak Chak ( Iran )

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Two Parsi Zoroastrian girls celebrating Navroz, the Zoroastrian new  year, in Ahmedabad, India.

Parsis are people of Iranian descent who migrated to India in the 8th century A.D. to avoid Muslim conversion.

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Zorosatrian fire altar, fire temple in Chak Chak, Iran, photo by Mical Huniewicz

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Zoroaster (Zarathustra), prophet of Persia.

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“He was the watcher in the night, who stood on the lonely peak facing the East and broke out singing the poems of light to the sleeping world when the sun came out on the brim of the horizon. He declared that the sun of truth is for all, that its light is to unite the far and the near. Such a message always arouses the antagonism of those whose habits have become nocturnal, whose vested interest is in the darkness.” –Rabindranath Tagore on the Prophet Zarathushtra Image by Hannah M.G. Shapero

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A Zoroastrian priest approaches a giant bonfire in a ceremony celebrating Zoroastrians ancient mid-winter Sadeh festival on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Hundreds of Zoroastrian minorities gathered after sunset to mark their ancient feast commemorating the creation of fire, dating back to Iran's pre-Islamic past. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)