ZTFE muktads

"Muktads are now over and last night we had our usual NaoRouz jashan/dinner function. It was the first time that the muktads and the NoRouz functions have been held at our new Zoroastrian Centre,” wrote Rusi Dalal, Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) committee member and vice chair of the recently concluded Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress in London, in an e-mail to Parsiana.

London has the tradition of the mobeds reciting the prayers in common and including all the names for remembrance submitted by the community, writes Dalal. The prayers were held for 10 days, with the mobeds sitting on the stage of the Zartoshty Brothers Hall, while the karasias (traditional containers) and vases full of white flowers were arranged on four long tables in the orchestra pit in front of the stage.

Nearly 200 to 300 devotees participated daily in the muktad ceremonies which ended with a humbandagi with everyone praying the Muktad no Namas­kar followed by Ahmai Raescha, Hazan­g­harem, Jasa me Avanghe Mazda and Kerfeh Mozd from the Srosh Baj, writes Dalal. To maintain the sanctity of the Hall during the muktad days all chasni, the food offerings brought by the devotees and tea were served outside in the foyer. As in years past, "the whole 10 days became an occasion observed with a great sense of purity, piety and devotion, and also with a sense of satisfaction in remembrance of the souls of our dear departed ones,” he adds.

In the long history of the muktad ceremonies being performed in London over the last 30 years, the venue has been moved only twice. It was first moved from the original hall of the Zoroastrian House to the assembly hall of the extension built in 1983. The second move has been from the Zoroastrian House at West Hampstead to the present Zoroastrian Centre at Rayners Lane, Harrow in 2005, recalls Dalal.

The NaoRouz function began with a jashan and chasni. There were well over 600 who partook of a Parsi dinner of dal and rice with prawn patia and pattice, all cooked by the Parsi duo Armin and Yazdi Dastoor. The Hall reverberated with clapping and cheers as philanthropist and ZTFE patron Mehraban Zar­toshty conveyed his greetings to the community in a live telephone conversation with president Dorab Mistry, Dalal describes the happy scene.