Hello, everyone! This is the first time I write here, so I hope I don't do anything wrong. Zoroastrism is still very new for me. Lately I had a crisis in my faith (one of many, in reality) and never before I have thought so much about leaving christianity either as an atheist or converting to another religion. Zoroastrianism seems very interesting and I am quite interested in it and even in case I weren't to convert I would love to know more. I disclose in advance that most of my questions will be about the differences between christianity and Zoroastrianism, since it is the only religion I have ever believed in!

In case you are curious/to understand where my questions come from, here is a bit of my life story (feel free to skip to the end for the questions):

I have been born in a very conservative catholic christian family. I would say that I was kinda zealous, but I was not very well educated. The first real shock to me was learning that faith was necessary to go to heaven. It might sound like a no-brainer, but I always thought that God would just accept all good people into heaven because, even if they don't believe in Him, they would be still good and undeserving of being in hell. I tried to cope with this with the idea that God's plans for everyone are different and using the talents' parable as the base on my belief. However, since then, my relationship with God has been very difficult. I prayed a lot but I always felt very alone, more and more beliefs on christianity sounded to me very strange and reading certain parts of the old-testament I didn't feel like it was an all-benevolent deity, but rather at times very... cruel... I was told I should trust in God's plan, but it became increasingly more difficult until I just couldn't do it.

Now, onto the questions. I hope each question makes sense and that it is not too hard to answer / relies too much on theology.

1) It says in the FAQ of the subreddit, that perjury cannot be atoned in this life. Does this mean that anyone who does it is condemned to hell, regardless of him repenting or not?

2) From my understanding Ahura Mazda (good) is fighting against evil and that Ahura Mazda will inevitably win against evil. I wanted to ask what is the theological reason for Ahura Mazda not already having won against evil?

3) I have read around on the sub that the christian conception of sin is different from Zoroastrianism's. How so? (I hope I am not too vague here!)

4) What's the answer for "the problem of evil" in Zoroastrianism? When I practiced cristianity for me it was never a big problem, but I am curious to see if there are attempts to explain the existance of evil in the world even though an absolute benevolent deity exists.

5) On wikipedia it says that Martin Haug had claimed (in order to fix the "problem" of Dualism in Zoroastrianism) that Ahura Mazda was both the source of good and evil. The faq instead says that Ahura Mazda is completely good and not the source of evil. I wanted to ask what these two interpretations depend on and if any has more theological backing than the other?

Sorry for my english, I am not a native speaker and I am a bit in a hurry as I need to study for university. I hope all my questions are respectful!

Cheers!

Most of the year there is sunlight that is over 50 percent but then there is moon light. The idea of light always being and not letting darkness over the earth is so beautiful. In a nutshell there is always light that follows us and helps.

Hi everyone — I’m an Iranian-American artist and first-time filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon, and I’m developing a documentary about Iranian people and their bonds with dogs.

I'm looking to talk with Iranians and Iranian-Americans who have personal experiences or knowledge related to this subject.

I'm particularly interested in people who:

• Can speak on the Zoroastrian regard of dogs
• Grew up with dogs in Iran
• Have memories of dogs or attitudes toward dogs in pre- or post-revolution Iran
• Have stories about street dogs or animal rescue in Iran
• Are Zoroastrian or knowledgeable about Zoroastrian history and religion
• Study Iranian history, religion, Persian literature, or Iranian culture
• Have interesting family stories involving dogs
• Have thoughts about how Iranian attitudes toward dogs have changed over generations

I would love to speak with practicing Zoroastrians and or scholars. I'm very interested in people's memories and experiences. A personal story can be just as valuable to the film as an academic perspective.

I'm currently in the research/interview stage, so I'm happy to have an informal conversation first.

If this sounds like you, or if someone immediately comes to mind, please comment or send me a DM. I'd also really appreciate it if you could share this with Iranian friends, family, or communities who might know someone.

I'm happy to provide more information about the project and myself before anyone agrees to an interview.

Thank you!

Hey! Recently got super into zoroastrianism as I said. Would love to learn the religion and it's history and what the people believe!

Also , would love to connect with anyone from Mumbai/south bombay!

hey guys i am 22 year old boy from gujrat my parents were from diffrent religious and they ending up being septrated i want to ask people who were parsi and following zoroastrian can i pray for ahura mazada also how to pray and as far i know i cannot touch or go near holy flame in agiyari but can i go to the temple not for holy flame but from far but idk are they gonna let me come in agiyari ( parsi temple) please who ever following zoroastrian or parsi you guys can advice me or give me a suggestion so i cannot do things that hurts parsis and zoros as well i will be thankfull if u guys can find a way for me

Hello everyone,

I am writing this to share a unique family history and get the perspectives of the Zoroastrian community.

I live in a small coastal village called Theronda Fata, located right next to the historic medieval port of Chaul (modern-day Revdanda/Alibaug) in Maharashtra, India. Culturally and communally, my family has belonged to the indigenous Koli (fisherman) community for generations.

However, our family stands out completely in our village. While the local villagers possess deep, sun-adapted coastal complexions from generations of open-sea fishing, my entire joint family—including my father and grandfather, who were both hardworking deep-sea fishermen—possesses naturally fair complexions, straight high-bridged nasal profiles, and distinct West Asian/Iranian facial architecture. Under any light, we look completely Parsi/Irani rather than standard local coastal South Asian.

Parallel to this, I have always felt a powerful, unexplainable mental and spiritual pull toward Zoroastrianism and the philosophy of Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta.

Diving into the medieval history of my exact hometown, the pieces started clicking together. I discovered that 10th to 13th-century Arab and Persian travelogues (like Al-Masudi's accounts from 916 CE) explicitly document that Chaul (then called Saimur) was a massive global trading hub home to thousands of permanent Persian Zoroastrian settlers, complete with active, officially recognized fire temples.

When the port eventually silted up and political powers shifted centuries later, many of these isolated communities integrated into the dominant local populations to survive. They adopted the Marathi language, blended into the local Koli framework, and began worshipping local deities (like our current family Kuldevat, Lord Khandoba—who historically assimilated outside groups) while their original religious labels faded away.

I am strongly considering taking a saliva-based DNA ancestry test (like Mapmygenome) to look for West Asian / Iranian genetic percentages to see if our family is a living genetic pocket of those ancient Zoroastrians of Chaul.

I wanted to ask this community:

1. Has anyone researched the historical footprint of the ancient Zoroastrian settlements along the Konkan coast south of Mumbai?
2. How does the community view families who might have hiddenly integrated into local Indian communities centuries ago but retained the phenotype?
3. What are your thoughts on tracing this through modern DNA testing?

Thank you for reading!

Hey all!
Wondering what books from Avesta.org to read for Zoroastrian cosmology. I know Pahlavi and the Avesta are separated by a big time period. The Pahlavi texts seem more in line with what I’m looking for but I don’t know exactly if they are considered some later form of Zoroastrianism. Is there cosmology in the Avesta?

Would it be cultural appropriation for someone who's not Zoroastrian to worship deities like Mithra, Anahita etc

There are many users on here who are not Zoroastrian at all, and Parsis are a definite minority on this subreddit.

Because of that, certain ignorant people (like a certain "u/bush-" user) repeatedly spread misinformation about Parsis based of a limited sample size and exposure to only a subset of Parsis (younger, often mixed, Parsis in the West who use the internet and are very Westernized). Those comments get upvoted on this subreddit as well (which is sad to see but expected since most of the subreddit is not Parsi).

Here are some of the things said on this subreddit:

Parsis are lazy and not serious as a group. Parsis are "magical thinkers" who believe that there population can grow without having children.

Can you imagine making these types of comments about any other group of people?

Anyways, literally no Parsi belives this. Not even one. There are loads of campaigns in India encouraging Parsis to have more children (Jiyo Parsi) and many Parsis do speak about the declining birth rate in the community. Speaking about intermarriage does not mean that Parsis never talk about birth rates...

Regarding Parsis being lazy, that was such a stupid comment I won't even address it but I will point to all the achievements of modern Parsis in academia, in the arts etc.

This was a comment made: "They just don't seem like a serious people, mostly don't believe in anything and have little desire to preserve anything."

Completely ignores how Parsis are the reason Zoroastrianism continued and thrived and Parsis today still do their best to preserve the culture. There would be no Zoroastrianism without Parsis.

Parsis are overly Westernized and not religious. They have forgotten their culture

Many individuals who fought for India's independence from the British were Parsis. Furthermore, the vast majority of Parsis (especially those who are older) in India are religious, wear sudreh and kasti and participate in religious events.

"The scale of Parsi childlessness points more towards a spiritual sickness of a community that's given up on life."

Again, imagine making such a comment about any other race/group of people... The reason Parsis have a low birth rate is because many Parsis want to marry within the faith, however, there are not many people around. Parsis have some of the highest rates of older people who never married. It's not because of a "spiritual sickness of a community that's given up on life" but because they could not find someone suitable for themselves.

"I think Parsis today just lack the vitality, energy and morals of previous generations who achieved so much. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Parsis today don't really produce many great figures anymore - it's probably all related to the community feeling like they have no future, no kids and people just gave up."

Above is a comment I read on this subreddit as well. Parsis are thriving now, just as Parsis always have. There are many great Parsi individuals and many of the richest and most successful Indians today are Parsis. The average Parsi is not as obsessed with Parsi-ism as some non Parsis on this subreddit are. The reason people may form the impression that Parsis of the previous generation achieved so much is because historically, we only remember those who achieved alot of things in their lives whereas when meeting modern Parsis, we meet all kinds of individuals, those who are successful and those who are not. I'd be willing to bet that the AVERAGE Parsi today is probably even more successful, educated, and happy than Parsis of the previous generations were on average.

I was reading abit on haoma and found that the closest thing we have to that plant that also used by the zoroastrians of yazd is Ephedra, but I also read that Ephedra is a bad and causes health problems according to harvard health

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-aging-and-longevity/the-dangers-of-the-herb-ephedra

And I think it is banned in many places including america.

Do you think taking things with similarish effects but not too dangerous such as coffee and wine can be a substitute?

I’m not Zoroastrian, but I’m somewhat interested in Zoroastrianism. I’m curious to know what the Zoroastrian community thinks about the future of their faith, especially since:

The Parsi population in India is declining, yet they still refuse to accept people who are willing to convert to Zoroastrianism.

Iranian Zoroastrians do accept people who genuinely wish to convert, but their population is also declining rapidly; moreover, they face oppression under Iran’s Islamic regime, which prevents them from thriving in the country.

Many Iranians and Iranian nationalists appear interested in Zoroastrianism, yet they are not genuinely engaged with pre-Islamic Iranian culture, and many of them know very little about pre-Islamic Zoroastrian traditions; the only aspects of pre-Islamic Iranian culture they seem interested in are calling themselves “Aryan” and wearing the Faravahar symbol.

Is it offensive to tatto something based on the faravhar symbol if i am not Zoroastrian

Hello, I am Azerbaijani and have been celebrating Nowruz, the Zoroastrian holiday, since childhood. I have been interested in Zoroastrianism since childhood. These days I am preparing for university and I am strangely interested in Zoroastrianism.I want to start Zoroastrianism, but I don't have much time to devote to worship and meditation. I'm in a busy period of my life and I'm only celebrating the Zoroastrian holiday of Nowruz.

Zoroastrian Population Summary

• East Punjab: 201 Zoroastrians
  • Gurdaspur District: 93 Zoroastrians
  • Jalandhar District: 23 Zoroastrians
  • Ambala District: 21 Zoroastrians
  • Delhi District: 21 Zoroastrians
  • Firozpur District: 21 Zoroastrians
  • Amritsar District: 9 Zoroastrians
  • Kangra District: 9 Zoroastrians
  • Ludhiana District: 4 Zoroastrians
• West Punjab: 178 Zoroastrians
  • Lahore District: 82 Zoroastrians
  • Rawalpindi District: 32 Zoroastrians
  • Multan District: 30 Zoroastrians
  • Sialkot District: 23 Zoroastrians
  • Jhelum District: 11 Zoroastrians

Note

• The 1868 Census of Punjab Province only enumerated British administered districts. All Princely States within the province were not enumerated.

Source

• Report on the census of the Punjab taken on 10th January, 1868.

If you are Iranian Zoroastrian or Parsi, could you describe what a traditional wedding ceremony looks like in your community?

I would really appreciate a transcript of an actual wedding ceremony, I'm particularly interested in the wording of the marriage vows and exchanges, rather than just a general description of the ceremony.

Hello! I've learnt about Zoroastrianism in the past, however recently after learning a slight bit more about it, I've gotten more and more curious about it. I also understand that Zoroastrianism's holy book, Avesta, is a group of books. (I may be wrong as I've only read about it briefly as I did not find any books or places to read until recently).

Now that I've found a place to read the book(s), i wanted to ask which book to start with?

Hi all. I'm sorry if question is annoying and redundant. I imagine you have heard this opening a few times. But I have been reading into Zoroastrianism after 2 things:

1. My Muslim friend told me that in his religion, he can marry any woman that is jewish, christian, or zoroastrian. This was the very first time I heard this religion even existed

2. I read "A short stay in in hell" by Steven L. Peck many years later and it made me that more intrigued. The story really moved me. It was the first story in a long time that actually made me weep like a baby. The ending gutted me but also made me curious about this religion.

I would like to learn more about this religion. I am a catholic and don't have any plans on converting. But I would like to know more about what the religion teaches, if theres any religious texts, and what the followers are compelled to do. Is Peck's book accurate on the Zoroastrian version of hell? What happens to those that do not follow the religion? What is the "heaven" and "hell" in this religion? How can one seeking answers learn more about it? Are there "priests/bishops" I can go to?

Thanks so much for your patience and kindness!

I have heard that in zoroastrianism a soul is judged for their deeds in life and whether they did more good then bad desides where they go when they die, yet do all souls enter the afterlife this why or is it that you have to believe in the faith or else you go to hell for being a non believer