New initiates

A group of "behdins” traveled 700 km from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan to Almaty, the former capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan to attend a group sedreh- pooshi (navjote) ceremony, notes the website www.bozorgbazgasht.com of the Anjuman-e Bozorg Bazgasht (Zoroastrian Association of Norway – Det Norske Zoroastriske Trossamfunn). The asho farohar symbol on the website carries a blurb: "Society for reversion to our roots.” The Anjuman joined the Zoroastrian community of Sweden once again to make a new historical event in the world of Zoroastrianism in Almaty, notes the write-up. Iranian citizens too had come to participate in this ceremony. "They had traveled from Iran to Kazakhstan to revert to their roots and become formally Zartoshti,” notes the write-up. The ceremony took place at the Regent Ankara Hotel on August 7, 2006.

New initates after the sedreh-pooshi ceremonies in Oslo (above) and Alamaty (below) in August 2006

Three days earlier another group sedreh pooshi was performed in Oslo, the capital of Norway, where a group of Iranian "new behdins” from Austria and Norway joined the Zara­thushti religion, conveys the website which also carries news of two group sedreh pooshi ceremonies being held in Oslo and Dubai in early April 2006 "with blessing of Ahura Mazda and cooperation of Anjuman-e Bozorg Bazgasht in Norway and Zoroastrian Community of Sweden.” At the ceremony in Oslo, a group of seven, including five Iranian citizens and one each from the Republic of Azerbaijan and Afghanistan joined the Zarathushti religion. At the Dubai event, three citizens from Iran came to Dubai just to attend the ceremony to join the Zarathushti religion. "It was a historical event that took place in an Arabian country after more than 1,300 years,” it notes. Photos of the new initiates, both men and women, in their sedreh-pooshi have been carried on the website.