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Purity Purity is indeed at the heart of Zoroastrian doctrine. It is she who, more than anything, represents the divine order. Impurity represents in return the main weapon of Ahriman, principle of evil, it is she who is at the source of the corruption of this world, by coming to introduce "confusion" within the divine order first instituted. The fight against evil, an essential vocation of every Zoroastrian, therefore first translates into a struggle for purity. Purity of heart and of intentions on the ethical and moral plane, purity of creation on the material and ritual plane. This close equivalence between holiness, purity and the principle of order allows us to better understand the meaning and role of the sanctuary as a "ritual place". In Choksy's words, any Zoroastrian ritual space initially corresponds to a separate, clearly distinct space where it will be possible, through the gestures and words of the rite, to establish order and perfect purity, and therefore to help restore order of the cosmos and to allow the final victory of good over evil. Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan journals.openedition.org/rhr/5371#text Yazd long represented, along with Kerman, the main Zoroastrian home in Iran. Only recently, during the 20th century, mass emigration Zoroastrians to the capital and abroad, greatly weakens local communities. However, this region remains the spiritual heart of the community scattered throughout the world: it is there that most of the Zoroastrian shrines of Iran are located, and especially five major pilgrimage centers, scattered in the desert that surrounds the city. These Zoroastrian shrines, called pir or pirângâh, are in fact of great diversity. They can be simple niches carved into the wall of a street or a house, where candles and incense are burned. These niches all have a very precise name but they are not associated with any hagiography, any "holy personage", and no particular liturgical time. These places are generally revered by the locals who strive to burn a candle there every night. Purity is indeed at the heart of Zoroastrian doctrine. It is she who, more than anything, represents the divine order. Impurity represents in return the main weapon of Ahriman, principle of evil, it is she who is at the source of the corruption of this world, by coming to introduce "confusion" within the divine order first instituted. The fight against evil, an essential vocation of every Zoroastrian, therefore first translates into a struggle for purity. Purity of heart and of intentions on the ethical and moral plane, purity of creation on the material and ritual plane. This close equivalence between holiness, purity and the principle of order allows us to better understand the meaning and role of the sanctuary as a "ritual place". In Choksy's words, any Zoroastrian ritual space initially corresponds to a separate, clearly distinct space where it will be possible, through the gestures and words of the rite, to establish order and perfect purity, and therefore to help restore order of the cosmos and to allow the final victory of good over evil. If such a doctrine is not always known in all its subtleties by the faithful, the fact remains that they keep in mind the almost “performative” character of the purity of the place. A woman explained to me that a pure place attracts positive forces, "good spirits", and that is why making a wish in this place is particularly "effective". It is in similar terms that the role of the most modest pir, these little niches where you come to burn a candle: performing this gesture there forty consecutive evenings, a sign of a purity of intention and of heart, would make it possible to attract "good spirits" there and thus ensure of their positive force. |