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Schedule of Events
Friday October 11, 2019
6:30 PM: Meet and Greet
7:00 PM: Welcome and Introductions
7:15 PM: Almut Hintze: The Past in the Present: The Ancient Zoroastrian Ritual of the Yasna in Sound and Written Word
8:00 PM: Dinner
Saturday October 12, 2019
9:00 AM: Registration
9:30 AM: Almut Hintze: A Zoroastrian Vision Moderator: Yasmin Pavri
11:00 AM: Boi Ceremony at Atash Kadeh and Tour of Atash Kadeh
Noon: Lunch
1:00 PM: Kersi Shroff : Central Asian Arts & Archaeology: Selected Zoroastrian Themes and Sites.Moderator: Rustom Engineer
2:30 PM: Panel discussion with young mobeds Bahrom Firozgary, Zubin Kotwal & Noshir Khumbatta. Moderator: Khushrav Nariman
7:00 PM: Gala Dinner
Sunday October 13, 2019
10:00 AM: Round table discussion with Speakers, Mobeds and community members
Friday October 11 – Sunday October 13, 2019
Presented by
Zoroastrian Association of Houston
FEZANA Information Research Education System
Society of Scholars of Zoroastrianism
V E N U E
Zoroastrian Heritage and Cultural Center
8787 West Airport Boulevard, Houston TX, 77071
The past in the present: the ancient Zoroastrian ritual of the Yasna in sound and written word
Speaker: Professor Almut Hintze
Abstract: Up to the present day Zoroastrian priests perform a millennia old ritual, the Yasna, in which the recitation of ancient Avestan texts accompanies the performance of ritual actions. This ritual is at the heart of the tradition as it includes the recitation of the most sacred texts, the so-called hymns of Zarathushtra. However, the words which the priests recite are very hard to make out and their relationship to the ritual actions is little understood. Moreover, no edition and translation of the complete Yasna is currently available. The Multimedia Yasna, short: MUYA, a SOAS project funded by the European Research Council with an Advanced Investigator Grant, proposes to fill these gaps by producing a sub-titled interactive film of the Yasna ritual and a state-of-the-art edition with translation and commentary based on the manuscript while developing digital tools for electronic editing. In addition, MUYA is producing the ritual in Virtual Reality, thus enabling the viewer to experience the ritual by full immersion. This talk highlights the main features of MUYA.
A Zoroastrian Vision
Speaker: Professor Almut Hintze
The Zoroastrian sacred texts collected in the Avesta bear witness to a number of beliefs and observances that have been adhered to throughout the long history of this religion. Such beliefs and observances include the ritual and devotional worship of Ahura Mazdā and other Yazatas, the rejection of Angra Mainyu and the Daivas, a series of purity laws and an elaborate imagery relating to the fate of the soul after death. Focusing on the latter theme, this talk examines the way in which the encounter of the soul with its belief, or daēnā, is elaborated in the texts and in the later tradition.
About Professort Almut Hintze
Professort Almut Hintze is an academic, philologist, linguist, and scholar of Indo-Iranian studies, and Zoroastrianism. Since 2010, she has been Zartoshty Brothers Professor of Zoroastrianism at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and recently a co-chair of the Shapoorji Pallonji Trust at SOAS
Central Asian Arts & Archaeology: Selected Zoroastrian Themes and Sites
Speaker: Kersi Bhikhaji Shroff
Archaeological remains in the ancient regions of Bactria, Chorasmia, and Sogdiana, provide rich evidence of sacred structures, artefacts, and mural paintings depicting the practice of Zoroastrianism. Dating from Achaemenian times, the organic findings reveal religious and cultural traditions that sometimes drastically differ from the monotheistic and codified faith of the Sasanians. Many of these findings were first made by Russian archaeologists and, according to the World Atlas of Archaeology, “count among the great adventures of recent times in the important discovery of the Middle Ages.” The presentation will attempt to impart a sense of those adventures by featuring archaeological findings in little known sites in Khorezm and Paikend in Uzbekistan, and, Panjikent and Sarazm in Tajikistan.
About Kersi Bhikhaji Shroff
Kersi Bhikhaji Shroff, an Attorney at Law, recently retired from the US Federal Government as a Division Chief in the Law Library of Congress. Beginning in 2013, Kersi has travelled extensively in Central Asia and the Caucasus (in Azerbaijan), and volunteered to work with expeditions led by Russian archaeologists at three ancient, pre-Islamic sites in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He aims to also travel to the remaining “stans”of Central Asia to further trace and research the ancient roots of Zoroastrianism.
Registration
$30 for total – 3 days
Or $10 for lunch
Or $20 for Gala dinner
Lecture attendance free
For info or rsvp – Arnavaz Sethna ahsethna@yahoo.com