{"id":567,"date":"2011-03-11T13:33:04","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T13:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/?p=567"},"modified":"2011-03-11T13:33:04","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T13:33:04","slug":"zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html","title":{"rendered":"Zarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever people ask what I am this month and I answer, “Zarathushti,” their eyes usually glaze over. We’ve spoken at length thus far about what this faith teaches, who founded it, and some of the tenets…but the reason “we” know so little about this faith is due in part to their population.<\/p>\n

About 280,000…around the world.<\/p>\n

That’s like taking the population of Fayetteville, NC (a town about 30 minutes north of me) and scattering it across the globe. What, never heard of Fayetteville, NC? My point exactly. You may not of heard about this place because amidst the bustle and noise of larger cities and landscapes, it’s relatively insignificant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fayetteville, the red dot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Everything else<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why locating a Mentor for the Zarathushti\u00a0faith was so difficult. The majority of\u00a0Zarathushtis\u00a0reside in one of two places: the original branch in Iran (about 160,000) and the first diaspora community in India called the Parsis (about 80,000). That leaves about 40,000 Zarathushtis\u00a0to season the rest of the world. In the United States alone, which outside of India represent the largest community of the diaspora, there are approximately 18,000 Zarathushtis. Main population centers include New York City, San Francisco, Washington D.C.,\u00a0Chicago, and some in\u00a0Florida. My Mentor hails from Chicago.<\/p>\n

I’m in North Carolina. I found three in my state, and none of them live anywhere near me.<\/p>\n

So when we refer to Zarathushtis–no matter where we might find them–you are more than likely chatting with either an Iranian or Parsi. We will briefly look into who these fine folks are.<\/p>\n

The Iranian Zarathushtis <\/span>represent the old school, original branch of the faith. Zarathushtra preached the path of<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Edict of Cyrus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0Asha created by the “Wise Lord” Ahura Mazda around 1400 B.C. in the area around the Aral Sea in modern Kazakhstan\u00a0and Turkmenistan. These people are the descendents of the vast Persian Empires which at their height stretched from northern Greece in the West to the Indus River in the East. These are the people who sired leaders such as Cyrus the Great–a Zarathushti\u00a0like the rest of the Empire–who is credited\u00a0with freeing the Jews from Babylon and creating the Edict of Cyrus, considered to be\u00a0the first declaration of human rights. Because of the faith’s widespread influence, it is theorized\u00a0that many of the ideals that permeate\u00a0the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths have their roots in Zarathushti\u00a0teachings. The deathblow to Zarathushti\u00a0influence came in 641 CE as Islamic armies conquered Iran and forced many Zarathushtis\u00a0to choose between Islam and the sword. The persecution forced many to flee into remote plains and mountains. Some, determined to rescue the faith, fled\u00a0their homeland altogether and in “seven ships,” sailed for India.<\/p>\n

Those Zarathushtis <\/span>who fled Iran landed at Diu in Gujarat on the west coast of India. Their Hindu hosts welcomed\"\"<\/a>\u00a0them as refuges escaping persecution, and because the Zarathushtis\u00a0did not proselytize, they posed no threat to the native religion. Intent on embracing their new home, the Indian Zarathushtis\u00a0(now called Parsis, a derivative of the Pars or Fars of Southern Iran) endeavoured\u00a0to “sweeten the land” and become helpful citizens and neighbors. Over the next 14 centuries, Parsis consolidated their identity by keeping their faith within ethnic boundaries and\u00a0adapting to the culture around them. They adopted the Gujarati language, the women all but abandoned the traditional Iranian garb (head shawls, pantaloons, and a long shirt) in exchange for the Indian sari…even a divergence in their calendar took place.<\/p>\n

While the Zarathushti\u00a0diaspora at large claim ancestry\u00a0with\u00a0one of these two groups, there is a so-called “fringe” element gradually rising–especially in the United States–refered to as “neo-Zarathushtis.” Traditionally one must be\u00a0born into the faith because as a rule, Zarathushtis\u00a0do not accept converts. These neo-Zarathushtis\u00a0see themselves as a reform group who mainly use the Gathas\u00a0(accepted by all to be\u00a0the direct words of Zarathushtra) as their spiritual authority and argue that the teachings are for all humanity and that keeping the faith behind ethnic walls is a tragedy. Again, this is a small and relatively new movement which has no association with the traditional branches of the faith. I will explore this issue in more detail during our “Social Issues” week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever people ask what I am this month and I answer, “Zarathushti,” their eyes usually glaze over. We’ve spoken at length thus far about what this faith teaches, who founded it, and some of the tenets…but the reason “we” know so little about this faith is due in part to their population. About 280,000…around the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zarathushti"],"yoast_head":"\nZarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World - Project Conversion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World - Project Conversion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whenever people ask what I am this month and I answer, “Zarathushti,” their eyes usually glaze over. We’ve spoken at length thus far about what this faith teaches, who founded it, and some of the tenets…but the reason “we” know so little about this faith is due in part to their population. About 280,000…around the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Project Conversion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-11T13:33:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Fayetteville-NC-map-300x239.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World - Project Conversion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World - Project Conversion","og_description":"Whenever people ask what I am this month and I answer, “Zarathushti,” their eyes usually glaze over. We’ve spoken at length thus far about what this faith teaches, who founded it, and some of the tenets…but the reason “we” know so little about this faith is due in part to their population. About 280,000…around the…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html","og_site_name":"Project Conversion","article_published_time":"2011-03-11T13:33:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Fayetteville-NC-map-300x239.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html","name":"Zarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World - Project Conversion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Fayetteville-NC-map-300x239.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-11T13:33:04+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-11T13:33:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Fayetteville-NC-map-300x239.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Fayetteville-NC-map-300x239.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/zarathushtis-a-seasoning-for-the-world.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zarathushtis: A Seasoning for the World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/","name":"Project Conversion","description":"12 Months of Spiritual Promiscuity","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2223,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}