|
Barashnûm
Barashnûm, or Barashnûm nû shaba, is a Zoroastrian purification ritual which lasts nine nights. Because the ritual lasts nine nights, it is known as Barashnûm nû shaba or "Barashnûm of the nine nights".Darmesteter, Pg 119 Etymology Barashnûm is a Zend word meaning "top of the head".Darmesteter, Pg 133 The whole ritual is named "Barashnûm" because purification starts from the head of the person, which is the first part in his body which is purified. Purpose In pre-Islamic times, Barashnûm was used to purify men and women who had been defiled by contact with dead matter and by priests before undergoing training for priesthood and certain ceremonies. However, now the Bareshnum ceremony is only undertaken by priests before their Navar and Martab training ceremonies for initiation into priesthood and before the Vendidad Nirangdin Yasna ceremonies and the one to purify men or women coming in contact with dead is discontinued. The ritual Fargard 9 of the Vendidad pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the world's oldest organized faiths, its adherents exalt an uncreated, benevolent, and all-wise deity known as Ahura Mazda (), who is hailed as the supreme being of the universe. Opposed to Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu (), who is personified as a destructive spirit and the adversary of all things that are good. As such, the Zoroastrian religion combines a dualistic cosmology of good and evil with an eschatological outlook predicting the ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazda over evil. Opinions vary among scholars as to whether Zoroastrianism is monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, or a combination of all three. Zoroastrianism shaped Iranian culture and history, while scholars differ on whether it significantly influenced ancient Western ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ritual Purification
Ritual purification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may also apply to objects and places. Ritual uncleanliness is not identical with ordinary physical impurity, such as dirt stains; nevertheless, body fluids are generally considered ritually unclean. Most of these rituals existed long before the germ theory of disease, and figure prominently from the earliest known Ancient Near Eastern religion, religious systems of the Ancient Near East. Some writers connect the rituals to taboos. Some have seen benefits of these practices as a point of health and preventing infections especially in areas where humans come in close contact with each other. While these practices came before the idea of the germ theory was public in areas that use daily cleaning, the destruction of infectious agents seems t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally associated with gestures, words, or revered objects, rituals also occur in non-human species, such as elephant mourning or corvid object-leaving. They may be prescribed by tradition, including religious practices, and are often characterized by formalism, traditionalism, rule-governance, and performance. Rituals are a feature of all known human societies. They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and ritual purification, purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more. Even common actions like handshake, hand-shaking and saying "hello" may be termed as ''rituals''. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darmesteter (1849–1894), French antiquarian
{{surname, Darmesteter ...
Darmesteter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux (once Darmesteter) (1857–1944), English writer and scholar *Arsène Darmesteter (1846–1888), French philologist *James Darmesteter James Darmesteter (28 March 184919 October 1894) was a French author, orientalist, and antiquarian. Biography He was born of Jewish parents at Château-Salins, in Lorraine. The family name had originated in their earlier home of Darmstadt. He was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zend
Zend or Zand () is a Zoroastrian term for Middle Persian or Pahlavi versions and commentaries of Avestan texts. These translations were produced in the late Sasanian period. ''Zand'' glosses and commentaries exist in several languages, including in the Avestan language itself. These Avestan language exegeses sometimes accompany the original text being commented upon, but are more often elsewhere in the canon. An example of exegesis in the Avestan language itself includes '' Yasna'' 19–21, which is a set of three Younger Avestan commentaries on the three Gathic Avestan 'high prayers' of ''Yasna'' 27. ''Zand'' also appears to have once existed in a variety of Middle Iranian languages, but of these Middle Iranian commentaries, the Middle Persian ''zand'' is the only one to survive fully, and is for this reason regarded as 'the' ''zand''. With the notable exception of the '' Yashts'', almost all surviving Avestan texts have their Middle Persian ''zand'', which in some manuscripts a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vendidad
The Vendidad /ˈvendi'dæd/, also known as Videvdat, Videvdad or Juddēvdād, is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the ''Vendidad'' is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual. Name The name of the texts is a contraction of the Avestan language ''Vî-Daêvô-Dāta'', "Given Against the ''Daeva''s (Demons)", and as the name suggests, the ''Vendidad'' is an enumeration of various manifestations of evil spirits, and ways to confound them. According to the Denkard, a 9th-century text, the ''Vendidad'' includes all of the ''Juddēvdād nask'' of the Sasanian Avesta. This makes it the only nask that has survived in its entirety. Content The ''Vendidad'''s different parts vary widely in character and in age. Although some portions are relatively recent in origin, the subject matter of the greater part is very old. In 1877, Karl Friedrich Geldner identified the texts as being linguistically disti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nirangdin
The Navjote (, ''sedreh-pushi'') ceremony is the ritual through which an individual is inducted into the Zoroastrian religion and begins to wear the sedreh and kushti. The term ''navjote'' is used primarily by the Zoroastrians of India (the Parsis), while ''sedreh pushi'' is used primarily by the Zoroastrians of Iran. The word 'navjote' is a Latinized form of the Parsi Gujarati compound of ''nav'' "new" and ''jote'' "reciter f prayer, "invoker", "sacrificer". The second half of the word is—via Zoroastrian Middle Persian ''zot''—an indirect continuation of Avestan ''zaotar'', with /z/ eventually becoming /j/ because /z/ is not phonemic in Gujarati. The Persian term ''sedreh pushi'' translates to "Putting on the sedreh," a reference to the main component of the ritual. Age Although there is no upper limit to the age of the individual for which the ceremony takes place, in common practice it occurs before a girl or boy reaches maturity. Under no circumstances is it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yasna
Yasna (; ''''. ) is the name of 's principal act of worship. It is also the name of the primary liturgical collection of texts, recited during that ''yasna'' ceremony. Overview The function of the ''yasna'' ceremon ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Fire
The Holy Fire (, "Holy Light") is a ceremony that occurs every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Great Saturday, the day before Orthodox Easter. During the ceremony, a prayer is performed after which a fire is lit inside the ''aediculae'' where some believe the Tomb of Jesus may have been located. According to the belief, the fire emerges miraculously and is lit by the Holy Spirit. Orthodox Christians believe that this is the blessed light of resurrected Christ, who gives them comfort, joy and peace through it. The ceremony of the Holy Fire is led by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and is usually attended by priests and believers of different Christian denominations. After the fire is lit, it is distributed to various national churches and transported to their seats (Athens, Sofia, Moscow, Belgrade, Bucharest and others). Description from within the Orthodox faith Orthodox tradition holds that the Holy Fire happens annually on the day precedin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barsom
A barsom is a ritual implement used by Zoroastrian priests to solemnize certain sacred ceremonies. The word ''barsom'' derives from the Avestan language ''baresman'' (trisyllabic, '), which is in turn a substantive of ''barez'' "to grow high.". The later form – ''barsom'' – first appears in the 9th–12th-century texts of Zoroastrian tradition, and remains in use to the present day. The ''baresman'' is not related to the ''baresnum'', which is a purification ceremony. The ''baresman'' should also not be confused with the "mace", the ''varza'' (Avestan, MP ''gurz''). The ''varza'' is a metal rod, about one centimeter in thickness, often crowned with a bull's head. It has been suggested that the ''baresman'' may have a Zagrosian origin.. Physical characteristics Material In present-day use, the ''barsom'' is a bundle of short metal wires or rods, each about 20 cm in length. and made of brass or silver. The use of metal wires or rods is a relatively rece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furrows
A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or steel frame with a blade attached to cut and loosen the soil. It has been fundamental to farming for most of history. The earliest ploughs had no wheels; such a plough was known to the Romans as an ''aratrum''. Celtic peoples first came to use wheeled ploughs in the Roman era. The prime purpose of ploughing is to turn over the uppermost soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and crop remains to decay. Trenches cut by the plough are called furrows. In modern use, a ploughed field is normally left to dry and then harrowed before planting. Ploughing and cultivating soil evens the content of the upper layer of soil, where most plant feeder roots grow. Ploughs were initially powered by humans, but the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
