From going to the fire temple to feasting and get-togethers with family and friends, around 180-odd Parsee families of Jamshedpur joined the rest of their community members around the world to celebrate Navroz according to the Zoroastrian calendar on Tuesday.
The day marks vernal equinox, when the sun shines directly over the equator, resulting in day and night of equal length.
The special day started in fact from 3.47pm on Monday, spring equinox time. That's when the Gazders of Bharucha Mansion in Bistupur decorated their Haft Seen table, where haft means seven and seen the letter S. So seven things that start with S formed important ingredients to decorate the table may include things like sib (apple), sabzi (vegetables or sprouts), samanoo (sweet pudding), sir (garlic), serkeh (vinegar), sherbet, sheesha (glass) and sikka (coins).
"This is for the first time in years that we laid the haft seen table that's a tradition in Iranian culture. Many people don't keep up with this tradition anymore. However, we did it and it felt nice. Our families and non-Parsee friends also enjoyed it a lot," said Behroze Gazder who celebrated Navroz with husband Adil Gazder, son Varun Gazder and daughter-in-law Madhuri Gazder.
On Tuesday, many families also visited the agiary, popularly known as the Parsee fire temple, to perform special prayers and celebrated the day with a family feast and a function followed by a community dinner at night at the Parsee hostel on the Baug-e-Jamsheed complex. Meritorious students and achievers were felicitated and an antakshari added to the entertainment.
Navroz marks the change of season and the new harvest. Zoroastrians also believe that on this day, Jamshed, the King of Persia, ascended the throne. King Jamshed introduced solar reckoning into the Parsee calendar.
"Spring is a time of new life on earth. Human life is closely interwoven with the cycle of happiness, joy, success and failure and Navroz symbolises this too. We celebrated Navroz within our family. We generally keep it simple. We go to the agiary in the morning for special prayers and then of course eat a lot of great home-cooked food," said Varun Gazder, a cafe owner.
The Zoroastrian Navroz is also celebrated in mid-August according to the Shenshai calendar that marks the advent of Parsees in India.
