Afrinagan is an

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

term referring to either a collection of

Zoroastrian prayer Zoroastrian prayer covers a wide range of invocations and utterances, aimed at connecting the faithful with Ahura Mazda or other Zoroastrian Yazata, divinities. They may be performed in private, in public or at a fire temple. The practice of pray ...

s which are part of the

Khordeh Avesta Khordeh Avesta, meaning 'little, or lesser, or small Avesta', is the name given to two different collections of Zoroastrian religious texts. One of the two collections includes the other and takes its name from it. * In a narrow sense, the term ...

or to the ceremonies in which these prayers play a central role.

Delineation of the term

The word Afrinagan is believed to be derived from

''āfri'' with the meaning of ''blessing''. It is related to

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

''āpri'', which refers to certain prayers said during an animal sacrifice. The word refers to both a number of rituals as well as the Avestan prayers used within them. The Afrinagan prayers have to be distinguished from the Afrin prayers, which are also used within the Afrinagan ceremonies but are in

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

The Afrinagan ceremony

According to Zoroastrian practice, the Afrinagan ceremony belongs to the outer ceremonies. This means that it can be performed outside of a fire temple, for example in a private place. Modern scholarship sometimes classifies them as belonging to the short liturgies. Several versions of the Afrinagan ceremony exist depending on the occasion. Generally, they all consists of three stages, namley the Dibache, the Afrinagan proper and the Afrin. The ceremony is typically performed by two priest, a main priest, called Zod, and an assiting priest, called Raspi. The main priest takes part in all three stages, whereas the assitent joins in stage 2. The Dibache (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

for ''preface'') is the opening of the ceremony and is performed in

. At this stage, the general outline of the ceremony, like the divinities to be praised, is announced. In the second stage, a number of

Ahuna Vairya Ahuna Vairya (Avestan: 𐬀𐬵𐬎𐬥𐬀⸱𐬬𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀) is the first of Zoroastrianism's four Gathic Avestan formulas. The text, which appears in ''Yasna'' 27.13, is also known after its opening words yatha ahu vairyo. In Zoro ...

manthras and Afrinagan prayers are performed. This part is consequently in

. The number of Ahuna Vairya and the specific Afrinagan changes, depending on the specific type of ceremony. In the closing stage, the Afrin prayers are performed, which means the languange is again

. Like in the previous stage, the specific Afrin prayer to be recited may change depending on the ceremony. Alternatively, this stage may be omitted altogether.

The Afrinagan prayers

The Afrinagan prayers are mostly extant as part of the ''

'' (little Avesta). This work is a collection of Avestan prayer texts mainly aimed at lay people. It includes a number of diverse texts drawn from other sourcese. The number of Afrinagan prayers which are included varies, but most manuscripts of the Khordeh Avesta contain four prayers, namely the Afrinagan i Dahman, Afrinagan i Gahan, Afrinagan i Gahanbar and the Afrinagan i Rapithwin. The Afrinagan i Dahman is a prayer recited in honor of a deceased person on the forth day after death. It invokes the Dahman Yazad, a

divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

associated with guiding the dead to heaven. The Afrinagan i Gahan (Afrinagan of the

Gathas The Gathas () are 17 hymns in the Avestan language from the Zoroastrian oral tradition of the Avesta. The oldest surviving text fragment dates from 1323 CE, but they are believed by scholars to have been composed before 1000 BCE and passed dow ...

) celebrate the last five days of the year, which are dedicated to the five Gathas. The Afrinagan i Gahanbar are performed during the six major seasonal festivals of the year, namely mid-spring (Maidyozarem), midsummer (Maidyoshahem), harvest feastival (Paitishahem), homecoming of the cattle (Ayathrem), midwinter (Maidyarem), and end of the year (Hamaspathmaidyem). Finally, the Afrinagan i Rapithwin is celebrated at the beginning or the end of the summer.

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