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In the last hundred years, North America has played a dominant role in world political and financial affairs. Yet today it seems to be rethinking its strategy of leadership in the 21^st century.  It’s a continent abundant in natural resources – including the most fertile plains in the world, deserts, the Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Mississippi River; the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans; and miles of coastlines. Wildlife, forests and woodlands, rich minerals deposits, reliable sunshine, and strong winds all contribute to our economy. In short, we are blessed with Ahura Mazda’s Creations. However, we have taken these Creations for granted.

By Arzan Sam Wadia

My earliest memories of going to a fire temple are of seeing a bearded man dressed in all white sitting all alone, greeting us when we entered. Feeling awed and scared at the same time, it took a while to understand why this man looked so similar to the ones in photographs on the wall. It took patience and effort on my late grandfather’s part to make me understand that this was “aapra dastoorji.” The man in question was the revered head priest Dasturji Hormazdji of the Batliwala Agiary in Tardeo all those years ago. Since then I have had numerous friends and relatives who are priests and that has led to a deeper understanding of what they stand for and what they mean to our ancient religion.

Note: This is an expanded version of the article that appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of FEZANA. It is available online for a limited time only. 

By Roy Wadia 

I clearly remember the day my brother Riyad, barely a week old, came home from Breach Candy Hospital on a hot and wet September day in Bombay.  The monsoon had lingered late in 1967, and the Arabian Sea waves still washed over the parapet on the Worli Sea Face promenade across from the bungalow that my grandfather the filmmaker Jamshed “JBH” Wadia had built in the 1940s. I had anticipated Riyad’s arrival for many months, from the time he protruded steadily from our mother Nargis’ once razor-thin waist to the tiny creature swaddled in white at the hospital nursery, wailing noiselessly behind the thick glass I stuck my face against in an attempt to fathom how it was that I had a new baby brother.  The miracle of birth made an impact even then on a five-year-old, and I viewed the new arrival at first with awe, and then, upon closer inspection, with a surge of protective love tinged with the realization that I no longer had the roost to myself, that a new chick had hatched, breaking the shell that I had constructed around my hitherto unchallenged dominion.

The Zarathushti Diaspora migrating to North America started as a trickle in the ’50s, and later turned into a steady stream of educated, talented, ambitious and adventurous youth in search of a way to make a mark in a foreign land. The incentive was higher education, economic prosperity, and several other factors. These immigrants set roots in their new homeland, worked hard, excelled in their professions and personal lives, and spread the word of Zarathustra to a new continent.

Over the years, Zarathushtis have built a great reputation around being charitable and supportive to social causes in their own communities, and in society as a whole. Whether rallying to reconstruct an old school in Iran, or support a struggling family in India, the collective “we” always pull together. We pull together and donate our time, talent and treasure to help support initiatives greater than our own self-interest.

I first learned about Zoroastrians in the spring of 2007. I had heard the word, I was familiar with Thus Spake Zarathustra, but I didn’t know anything about the religion. That spring, I came across a flyer for a fire jumping ceremony that was taking place in the South Bronx section of New York. No one there was Zoroastrian, oddly enough.

Some Zarathushtis, like Trity Pourbahrami of California, define “interfaith service” as “peace-building inititiatives.” “The first and most important role I play in interfaith settings is to listen without judgment and prejudice to what is being said,” she says.

The  World Zarathushti Symphony Orchestra (WZSO), founded by Farobag Homi Cooper and Cyrus Mehta, made its début at the 2000 World Congress in Houston. Featuring a unique mixture of young and seasoned professionals, the WZSO is now a regular highlight at Congresses.