Directory_and_Chronicle_1885 — Page 46

PARSEE FESTIVALS AND OBSERVANCDS.

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The offering thus made is annually commemorated by the sacrifice of animals, such as camels, sheep, goats or lambs, according to each person's means, which answer the purpose of honouring the memory of Abraham and Ishmael.

MOHARRAM. A celebrated mourning festival held annually in remembrance of the first martyrs of Mussulmans-Hassain and Hossein, the two sons of Fatima and Ali—from whom the whole race of Syads have descended. Hassain was poisoned by an emissary of the usurping Kalipha, and Hossein, the last victim of the descen- dants of the prophet's family, King Yazid's (son of Maviah) fury, suffered a cruel death after the most severe trials on the plain of Kurbala, on the tenth day of the Arabian mouth of Moharram, the anniversary of which catastrophe is solemnised with the most devoted zeal, and forms the subject of the ten days' bewailing during the Moharram. The Mahomedaus are divided into distinct sects, called the Sunis and the Shias. The former regard Ali and his descendants as the lawful loaders after Mahomed, and the latter the Kaliphas. The festival begins on the first day o the moon (Moharram), and tazias (a term sígnifying grief, and applied to a repre- sentation of the mausoleum erected over the remains of Iman Hossein at Kurbala), made of every variety of material, according to the rank and wealth of the party, are exhibited in every direction, and conveyed in procession through the streets. Mourning assemblies are held morning and evening in the Imanbares during the Moharram, and the head priest recites a subject for each day's service from the various books composed on the subject descriptive of the lives and sufferings of Hassain and Hossein.

PARSEL.

The Parsees of India are divided into two sects the "Shanshahis" and the Kudmis," the former of whom constitute the larger portion of the race. This division originated only about a hundred and sixty years ago, when learned Persian priest, named Jamasp, arrived in India, and found that his co-religionists differed from their brethren of Iran in their calculation of time by a full month, and in other minor points relating to their liturgy. Serious disputes arose in consequence, which ended in the formation of the two sects, the Shanshahis adbering to their own views, and the Kudmis adopting the opinions imported by Jamasp, thus agreeing with their Persian brethren. Notwithstanding this division, no estrangement exists between them in their social intercourse. The difference lies only in their computation of time, and in some slight variations in their form of prayer, Intermarriage is allowed as well as admission to each other's places of worship.

The festivals of the Parsees are celebrated with little or no outward pomp. Their holidays are mostly occupied in prayer in the morning, and festivities and rejoicing during the rest of the day. Some of their religious institutions are traced to a very ancient period. The festival of the Nowroz dates froin 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 Parsers for the observance of those who were attached to his favourite doctrines of the "Ilahi faith," 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 the piously disposed say their prayers in their fire-temples or private residences, a 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. Alms are given to the poor in the course of the day, and new suits of clothes presented to servants and dependents.

The ancient Persians reckoned a new era from the accession of each successive monarch, and as Yezdizird, of the Sassaniau 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 their current year 1254-55.