Zarathushtrian Association

Our post-Navjote students work under the guidance of Tehmus Mistry. These kids prefer to work with the technology. In these classes you will see children exchanging their ideas & thoughts, understanding the essence and meaning of different ceremonies and prayers, the never ending debate on good qualities versus bad practices and undertaking some project work by working in teams. This encourages our youngsters to align their day to day habits and practices with our religious doctrine. Using the technology of today makes it more interesting and gives insight into our history with magnified proportions.

"Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world-religions, and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith." Mary Boyce.

Background:

The religion was founded by Zarathushtra in Persia -- modern-day Iran. It may have been the world's first monotheistic faith. It was once the religion of the Persian Empire, but has since been reduced in numbers to fewer than 200,000 today. Most religious historians believe the Jewish, Christian and Muslim beliefs concerning God and Satan, the soul, heaven and hell, the virgin birth of the savior, slaughter of the innocents, resurrection, the final judgment, etc. were all derived from Zoroastrianism. (from http://www.religioustolerance.org/zoroastr.htm)

ZANZ commenced its prayer class sessions for 2011 on 12^th February. Every fortnight we conduct prayer class with the help of volunteers at Te Tuhi from 5.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. We start our classes with hum bandagi and then we sing our two monajats “Khudavind Khavind” and “Chhaiye hame Zarathoshti”. We then split our class into two groups.

The pre-navjote pupils are taught our kusti prayers, 101 names of Ahura Mazda, 30 days of the month, 12 months of the year, Din no kalmo and Dua- tandarosti. Mana Vazifdar, Thrity Mistry and Minoo Siganporia impart this religious knowledge to our younger children. We also teach our children how to tie a kusti. Short religious stories are also sometimes narrated to our children.

Our post-Navjote students’ class is conducted by Tehmus Mistry. The following topics have been covered:

• Different types of fires and how they are ranked
• The Bui ceremony
• The significance of Bhikha Behram well
• Zarathushtra’s family tree
• Overview of Zoroastrian prayers and different languages of prayers
• Various rituals and symbols
• Items in our ses
• Shenshai, Kadmi and Fasli calendars

ZANZ conducted a religious quiz on 16th July. We had three teams which had a mix of the pre-Navjote and post-Navjote groups. The pre-navjote children were asked simple questions and the post- Navjote children were asked questions based on what they had covered in their classes. Delnaz Patrawala’s team won this quiz. It was heart-warming to see our kids enjoying themselves and eager to answer questions.

On 3rd Sept ZANZ distributed a book “Creations of Ahura Mazda” which was created by the children of the Association of North Texas, USA. This book highlights various creations like sky, water, earth, plants, animals etc and their significance. It also gives information about our seven Amesha Spentas, thirty days of the month and their meaning etc.

Our last prayer class for the year was held on 26th Nov 2011. We served snacks and drinks to our children. The children enjoyed themselves and were quite surprised by this treat.

ZANZ's Prayer classes are an important part of our association and these are held regularly each fortnight. It is not only the prayers we teach but also some familiar Gujarati words and the morals associated with our religion. This year we had an average attendance of 20 kids attending our prayer class.

We encourage our Zoroastrian parents to send their kids regularly for prayer classes. Please feel free to circulate this email amongst our brethrens in New Zealand. If you know of any friends who would like to attend our classes please contact any committee member or Minoo Siganporia. ZANZ Prayer classes are open to all Zoroastrians irrespective of membership.

We will announce the schedule of prayer classes for the year 2012 shortly.

Finally, we would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to our prayer class volunteers Minoo Siganporia, Tehmus Mistry, Thrity Mistry and Mana Vazifdar for dedicating their personal time and putting in a lot of effort into the religious education of our community’s children.

The ZANZ Prayer class team would like to expand. If any of you would like to volunteer your time once a month towards this noble cause, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ushta-Te

ZANZ Management Committee