The Ceremony That Holds the World Together
The Yasna: Zoroastrianism's Central Ritual of Sacrifice, Sacred Drink, and the Maintenance of Cosmic Order The Inner Fire — Part 4 Every morning, in fire temples across India and Iran, two priests enter a ritually purified space marked by furrows in the floor. No layperson may enter this space. The priests have undergone purification rites. They carry no electronic devices. They have memorized the texts they will recite — all 72 chapters, in a language that has been dead to everyday use for over two millennia.
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The Yasna: Zoroastrianism's Central Ritual of Sacrifice, Sacred Drink, and the Maintenance of Cosmic Order The Inner Fire — Part 4 Every morning, in fire temples across India and Iran, two priests enter a ritually purified space marked by furrows in the floor. No layperson may enter this space. The priests have undergone purification rites. They carry no electronic devices. They have memorized the texts they will recite — all 72 chapters, in a language that has been dead to everyday use for over two millennia. For the next two hours, they will perform the most important religious ceremony in Zoroastrianism — and one of the oldest continuously performed rituals in any religion on earth. They will recite hymns that Zarathustra himself composed over three thousand years ago. They will pound the stems of the Haoma plant in a stone mortar with a metal pestle while chanting.
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Yasna · Avesta