Homi Gandhi and Jamshed Ghadiali

Thanks to FEZANA Khorshed Jungalwalla Lecture Series and Firdosh Mehta for arranging the Religious Education Seminar that will also take place in Houston on April 12, 2008.  A meet and greet speaker session will be held on Friday evening, April 11th. For Houston details please click on the attached
FEZANA Khorshed Jungalwalla Lecture Series Flyer

Aban Rustomji

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NauRooz, falling each year on the Spring Equinox, March 21, marks the official New Year for Zoroastrians worldwide.

Zoroastrian organizations throughout North America to hold prayers and ceremonies to mark the auspicious occasion. 

Pomona, New York, March 3, 2008 – Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) today announced that Zoroastrian organizations throughout the United States and Canada will celebrate the important festival of NauRooz (pronounced Noh-Rooz), on Friday, March 21, 2008, marking the official celebration of the Zoroastrian New Year at the turn of the spring equinox. ZAGNY will mark the occasion with a prayer ceremony on March 21, 2008 at 4-30 PM at ARBAB RUSTAM GUIV DARBE-MEHR, 106 Pomona Road, Suffern, NY 10901. Media and the public are invited to attend.

“The beauty, meaning and symbolism of NauRooz can best be experienced by sharing in our traditions and understanding the depth and breadth of NauRooz as more than just a religious holiday, but a celebration of a New Day, and a resolve to work for a brighter year ahead,” said ZAGNY President Homi Gandhi. “While today we are not the only people to celebrate NauRooz, our customs, culture and traditions are unique to our religion and our story as a growing religious body in North America.”

Zoroastrians have long served as effective bridge builders in interfaith dialogue as they see from their own faith, traditions of truth, righteousness, charity, beneficence and respect for creation reflected in traditions of the religions of both the occident and the orient.

“The North American Zoroastrian community is vibrant and growing, and striving for togetherness by celebrating and perpetuating auspicious holidays like NauRooz,” says FEZANA president, Dr. Rustom Kevala. “As we grow in the North American diaspora, it is our responsibility to proactively reach out and educate the public at large, and to showcase the many contributions being made each day by Zoroastrians throughout North America, and indeed throughout the world.”

Zoroastrianism, founded circa 1500 BCE, is credited to be the oldest monotheistic religion, influencing post-exilic Judaism, which adopted some Zoroastrian beliefs such as the ultimate victory of good over evil and the resurrection of souls. These percepts were then transmitted through Judaism to Christianity, and later to Islam. Zoroastrianism flourished as the imperial religion of three Persian empires, those of the Achaemenians, Parthians and Sasanians, and was the dominant religion from Turkey, and eastward to China during those times. North America’s Zoroastrian community includes those who arrived from the Indian subcontinent, known as Parsis, and those who came directly from Iran seeking religious freedom.

About  ZAGNY
Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Pomona, New York, ZAGNY represents the interests and provides a spiritual base for Zoroastrians throughout the Greater New York area. ZAGNY provides its membership with spiritual and religious guidance, religious education, interfaith participation and leadership, as well as social, cultural and community programming. For more information please visit: www.zagny.org

About FEZANA
Founded in 1987, FEZANA serves as the coordinating body for 25 Zoroastrian associations and several smaller Zoroastrian groups throughout the United States and Canada. FEZANA promotes the study, understanding and practice of the Zoroastrian faith in North America. It represents the interests of its member associations, and carries out philanthropic and charitable activities worldwide. The FEZANA Journal, FEZANA’s publication of record, circulates to Zoroastrian households in more than 22 countries, as well as to scholars, academicians and religious organizations worldwide. For more information visit www.fezana.org.

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Contacts:

ZAGNY Media Relations:
Homi D. Gandhi, President
Mobile: 201.410.8963 or president@zagny.org

FEZANA Media Relations:
Jim Engineer
FEZANA Media Relations
Mobile: 630.728.1387 or jim.engineer@e-rainmaker.com

About the Book

Wild, austere, and magnificently beautiful, the territories of northern Pakistan are a forbidding place, particularly for women. Traveling alone from the isolated mountain village where he was born, a tribal man takes an orphaned girl for his daughter and brings her to the glittering city of Lahore. Amid the pungent bazaars and crowded streets, he makes his fortune and a home for the two of them. Yet, as the years pass, he grows nostalgic for his life in the mountains, and his fifteen-year-old daughter envisions a romantic landscape, filled with tall men who roam the mountains like gods. Impulsively, the man promises his daughter in marriage to a man of his tribe. But once she arrives in the mountains, the ancient customs of unquestioning obedience and backbreaking work make accepting her fate as the bride of an inscrutable husband impossible. Unfortunately, the only escape is one from which there is no return.

Prescient and provocative in its assessment of the plight of women in tribal society in Pakistan, the first of Bapsi Sidhwa’s novels is a story of marriage and commitment, of the conflict between adherence to tradition and the indomitable force of a woman’s spirit. The Houston Chronicle raves, “There is a Kiplingesque quality to Sidhwa’s writing, the congenital ability to make one feel the ambiance of the locale: the stifling heat, the poverty, and yet the warmth which exists between families…”

Don’t miss…

New York reading

Aicon Gallery
206 Fifth Ave. (bet. 26th & 27th St), NYC.

Tuesday March 18, 6:30-8:30 pm
Information: Indo-American Arts Council Inc, 146West 29th St, Suite 7R3, New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212 594 3685 Email admin@iaac.us

and

Houston reading:

Brazos Bookstore
2421 Bissonnet | Houston | TX | 77005

Thursday April 3, 6:00 pm

It was in 1923 that the eminent philanthropist, the late Seth Mervanji Cama laid the foundation of the Mancherji Framji Cama Athornan Institute.  His vision was to sow the seeds of religious knowledge and fervour in the minds and hearts of young priests so that they may become torchbearers to the community.  It is to the credit of this Institute that several learned Dasturs and scholars have passed through its portals and later guided the community.

Today, a small group of dedicated and dynamic persons belonging to the Ex-Students Association have offered their services to rejuvenate this Institute.  The Refresher Course, which has been organized by them with great success for the last five years, is a clear testimony of their deep fervour. …Read the rest of this entry »»»

Notice is hereby given to the congregation that Voting for the Election of Trustees for the Darbe Mehr Zoroastrian Temple will be held on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at the Arbab Rustam Guiv Darbe Mehr located at 106 Pomona Road, Pomona, NY. The election will take place following the proceedings of the Annual General Meeting being held at 12:00 noon on the same day.

The term of office of two of the Trustees, Mr. Fuad Adib and Mrs. Mehru Cama expires this year. Both Trustees have completed one term in office as elected Trustees and are eligible to run for re-election for a second term.

The election procedure being carried out will elect two Trustees for a three-year term from the list of Nominated Candidates.

Please note that the DMZT By Laws require that there be at least one IZA member on the DMZT Board of Trustees. Since Mr. Fuad Adib is the out-going IZA representative, an IZA member must be nominated and elected to the DMZT Board during this election.

Candidates who wish to run in the election are requested to complete the attached Nomination Form and include a brief biography with it.

The nomination form and biography must be mailed to reach the Election Committee at the address given below no later than Saturday March 15, 2008.

Mr. Noshir Dutia
2 Viking Court
Randolph, NJ 07869-1236

Election Commission

• Mr. Noshir Dutia - Tel: (973) 328-2881
• Mr. Erach Munshi - Tel: (212) 865-6683
• Mr. Iradj Yektashenas - Tel: (908) 522-1342