On Saturday, May 3th, 2008 the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York will participate in the annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women in the fight to help eradicate women’s cancers.

Over the past five years, with the participation of ZAGNY members, their families and friends, we have raised close to $25,000 for this worthy cause. Once again, we will be participating as a “team” for this event. The event is in New York City and participants can choose to run or walk this 5k race. It starts in Times Square and ends in Central Park. Our team usually meets at a specified location at 8:30 am. Exact location details will be sent to you via email 2 weeks prior to the event.

To register and join our team (Team #1109), please log onto the Run/Walk website. Our team name is Zoroastrian Association of Greater NY and the team number is 1109. The Registration fee of $30 includes your registration fee, a t-shirt, and a gift bag.

We encourage you, your family and friends to join our team to help raise funds for this very important cause and to support the thousands of women, who have fought this disease, are currently battling it, and the ones who have unfortunately lost their lives because of it. We thank you in advance for your support.

If you cannot participate in the actual event but would like to make a contribution by clicking here, then selecting a participant to sponsor on our team (Team #1109).

If you have any questions, please call team captain Sheroo Kanga at 201-227-1890 or via email at kangavs@yahoo.com

Join us this year, and walk among thousands united by the power of the human spirit.

NAUROOZ DAY PARADE CELEBRATION

The fifth “PersianParade” in celebration of NauRooz Day is coming soon and it will take place on Sunday March 30, 2008. The Parade is expected to draw tens of thousands of participants and spectators in New York City. The Parade procession will march on Madison Avenue starting at 41st street and ending at 27th street. The Parade promptly begins at 12:00 noon.

It has been suggested by the organizers that the Zoroastrians participate among the very early floats. Adults and children may be in traditional Zoroastrian attire, preferably in white attire like Dagli, Dagla, etc.

We are planning to meet all Zoroastrians at the South West corner of Park Avenue and 41st Street around 10:00-10:30 AM Kindly ensure that everyone is ready and assembled at that corner as we will slowly proceed from there to Madison Avenue to be ready to commence the Parade sharp at NOON. Please email your name and telephone # to Khusheed Navder (secretary@zagny.org) so that we have a record of all attendees at the Parade. Thank you.

LET US MAKE THIS NAUROOZ DAY A GREAT SUCCESS!

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

Notice is hereby posted that the Annual General Meeting of the Darbe Mehr Zoroastrian Temple will be held on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 12:00 Noon at the Arbab Rustam Guiv Darbe Mehr located at 106 Pomona Road, Pomona, NY to conduct the following business:

1. Presentation of the Annual Report.
2. Approval of the Treasurer’s Report.
3. Election of Trustees.
4. Any other Business.

ELECTION OF TRUSTEES:

The election for the trustees will be conducted independently by the election committee appointed for the purpose.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

In the interest of time, congregation members, who may want to bring up any other pertinent business that concerns the congregation or the Darbe Mehr’s well-being, are requested to submit this in writing to the Board of Trustees no later than March 19, 2008. This would be conducted after the election procedure for the Trustees has been completed as this could be fairly open ended in terms of time.

DMZT Board of Trustees

• Mr. Fuad Adib
• Mrs. Mehru Cama
• Mr. Astad Clubwala
• Mr. Firdosh Mehta
• Mr.Sherezad Mehta
• Mr. Fali Shroff

Prof Irani is back and he has agreed to give a talk at the April Religion Classes on April 6, 2008. The title of the talk will be “Social Message of the Zoroastrian Manthric Prayers.”
Certain Zoroastrian prayers such as the ‘Ashem Vohu’ and the ‘Yatha Ahu Vairyo’ are considered to be manthric.

The traditional view is that these prayers have a special power beyond the meaning of the words in the prayers and even their sound alone has power. Prof. Irani has studied these prayers and will describe the social message that runs through these prayers shedding a new light on these very familiar prayers.