Funeral Rituals in Zoroastrianism

These rituals begin even before death. If a person is known to be dying family members bring a fi re into the room to drive away evil. According to Zoroastrian belief the evil spirit of decay rushes into the body within three hours after death. Because of the extreme pollution of death no one may touch the dead except special “corpse bearers,” who are specially trained and who undergo special purification rituals after their work is done. Anyone else who touches the body must undergo ritual purification, or nahan. All of the rituals surrounding death stress that the living should avoid the pollution of death.

The corpse bearers ritually wash the body and dress it in a clean sudreh and kusti. The body is shrouded with only the face uncovered. They place the body on a stone slab and mark an area around the body into which the priests and family may not step. Fire fed with sandalwood and frankincense is kept burning beside the body to keep evil spirits away. A priest then comes and prays in Avestan. The priest is joined by at least one other for the geh sarna ceremony, in which they recite the first Gatha of Zarathustra. The geh sarna ceremony signals the departure of the soul from the body. After the ceremony the body is no longer connected to the soul and may be disposed of.

Plan of a dakhma, or tower of silence. The structure is open to the sky. Dead bodies are placed on stone slabs: men on the outer ring, women in the middle, and children in the inner ring. Drains carry any matter not consumed by vultures away to a central well, which is sprinkled with acid from time to time for sanitation. Any remaining fragments are carried by drains to underground wells, where they return gradually to the earth.

Thanksgiving Days in Zoroastrianism