“Dad, everyone’s wearing a mask!” exclaimed the son of Adi Sidhwa, a Zoroastrian priest, about the COVID mask requirement. “Is it different than yours?”
The boy wasn’t referring to his father’s COVID mask but the long, white, cloth one – padan -- that Sidhwa, 46, from eastern Bergen County, wears when he presides at the service in the Pomona, New York, temple. A Zoroastrian priest, also referred to as mobed, has always worn a mask when performing prayers in front of the sacred flame used in most Zoroastrian ceremonies.
Most elementary-school boys spend their free time playing videogames or hanging out with friends. Zerkxis Bhandara’s childhood was a bit different. He started training to become a Zoroastrian priest when he was 9.
Mr. Bhandara, whose family traces its lineage to a 12th-century Indian cleric, was born into the role. But the 25-year-old graduate student from Irvine, Calif., pushed back on his early religious obligations. “Oh gosh, I was a bad student,” he recalls. There were classes. Homework. “Like every 9-year-old, I would rather do any other thing.”
Official website of the 7WZYC: All Congress Sessions on Video: All Congress Photographs: 400 Zarathushti youth from all over the world gathered in sunny Southern California to participate in the 7t…
Official website of the 7WZYC: All Congress Sessions on Video: All Congress Photographs: 400 Zarathushti youth from all over the world gathered in sunny Southern California to participate in the 7t…
On a typical-looking stretch of southwest Houston — down the street from Kwik Kar Lube and Storage Choice, across from a privacy fence hiding cookie-cutter McMansions — a Zoroastrian fire temple opened last week: a brand-new, sparkling-white place where priests from one of the world’s oldest religions tend a holy flame.
On a typical-looking stretch of southwest Houston — down the street from Kwik Kar Lube and Storage Choice, across from a privacy fence hiding cookie-cutter McMansions — a Zoroastrian fire temple opened last week: a brand-new, sparkling-white place where priests from one of the world’s oldest religions tend a holy flame.
Singer-Songwriter Was More religious Than You Think Unless you have been living in a cave, you know the rock band, Queen. For the last forty years, their music has been played at sports stadiums, movies, radio stations, and personal music players. The new film Bohemian Rhapdosy will explore the creation of the band and the […]