PARSEE FESTIVALS AND OBSERVANCES.
during the rest of the day. Some of their religious institutions are traced to a very ancient period. The festival of the Nowroz dates from upwards of three thousand years before Christ, and is kept to this day by most of the nations of Western Asia, notwithstanding the difference of creed. The Emperor Akbar adopted the "Nowroz” and fourteen other festivals of the Parsees, for the observance of those who were attached to his favourite doctrines of the "Ilahi faith,
Ilahi faith,” or the “
or the "Religion of God," which he fruitlessly endeavoured to introduce among the people.
PAPETI, OR NEW YEAR'S DAY.-Among the festivals observed by the Parsees, the first and most universally kept is the Papeti, or new year's day. On this day the Parsees rise early, and dress themselves in new suits of clothes, and those piously disposed say their prayers in their private residences, or visit their friends and relatives, when the "Hama-jor" or joining of hands is performed; this ceremony is a sort of greeting corresponding to the European fashion of wishing each other a happy new year. Their friends and relations are invited to breakfast. The morning thus occupied, they spend the rest of the day in their country houses or clubs, where feasting and rejoicings are kept up till a late hour. Alms are also given to the poor in the course of the day, and new suits of clothes are presented to servants and dependents.
The ancient Persians reckoned a new era from the accession of cach successive monarch, and as Yezlezerd, of the Sa-sanian dynasty, was their last King, when dethroned by Caliph Omar about A.D. 640, the date of his accession to the throne has been brought down to the present time, thus making t: eir current year 1248-49.
In their calculation of the year only 365 days are allowed; leap year is unknown to them, though there are records which prove that in every 120 years one month was added to make it correspond with the solar year.
The year is divided into twelve months, of 30 days each, and five days, or "Gathas as these are named, added at the end to make up the deficiency. These five Gatha days are held as the most sacred in the year, and those piously disposed spend them solely in prayers.
KHURDAD-SAL.-The second of the Parsee festivals is the "Khurdad-Sal" day, or the anniversary of the birth of their prophet Zoroaster, who they say was born in the city of Reh, in the North of Persia, in the reign of Darius Hystapis, about 520 years before Christ. Heeren places the birth of this celebrated personage about 1,200 years anterior to this. Parsees themselves differ as to the exact time of the birth of their prophet: a part of them fix the period at B.C. 389, others at B.c. 538. Religious ceremonies are performed in the morning by the women of the family and the priests;; the men, as usual on such occasions, limiting themselves to private prayers.
AMURDAD-SAL.-This holiday, which falls on the day immediately after the preceding festival, appears to have no origin in the books of the Parsees. It is merely. kept up as the continuation of the "Khurdad Sal;" no religious ceremonies are required, and the day is always spent in the enjoyment of pleasures.
FARUHARDIN JASAN.-This day is set apart for the performance of ceremonies, for the dead, "Faruhar" meaning soul or spirit. The religious portion of the people attend on the bills at Chaopatty (Bombay), where their "dockmas," or "towers of silence" are situated, and there perform prayers for the dead, in commemoration of their memory. The Parsees are enjoined by their religion to preserve the memory. of their dead by annual religious ceremonies performed in the house; but such of their friends as die on long voyages or in unknown places, and the date of whose death cannot be positively ascertained, are, according to the terms of their religion, honoured by sacred rites on this day. The ceremony consists in a man or woman preparing small round pieces of baked bread, called darans, which are put on a tray or other copper vessel, along with the fruits and flowers, over which the priest per- forms the prayers of the Baj, or "Vaj," as it is called by M. Anquetil du Perron in his "Zend Avesta." According to the translation published by this learned Frenchman, the Baj is an invocation of the names of the departed, and of such of the angels as have a direct control over the souls of the dead after their departure from this world. Prayers of this sort are still performed among the Hindus and the Mahomedans, and are not unknown in the Roman Catholic countries of Europe.
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