Ask a persian.

[plarq]

Persian cats meow in Farsi.

Fine.

صدای گربه

 

[caketastydelish]

Work this one out for you:


Link to video.

 

[plarq]

I'm just following Maz Jobrani's show.

 

[caketastydelish]

Watch this guy instead. He's 10 times funnier than Jobrani.

edit: Btw I've always somehow presumed you live in the UK but all of a sudden I realize maybe not. Am I right?


Link to video.

 

[cardgame]

Jobrani? What a jabroni.

 

[christos200]

What are your favorite Persian dishes?

 

[caketastydelish]

Kebab (especially chicken) and tadgeeh.

 

[christos200]

I love Kebab too.

 

[caketastydelish]

The only thing that sucks about being Persian and living in a small town (or rather, one of those things) is that whenever your parents take you to a big city to have kebab it always has to be Persian kebab. I'd like to try other kinds, particularly turkish kebab. Is Greek kebab a thing btw?

 

[Little Faith]

Is Greek kebab a thing btw?

Yes, they call it gyros though.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The only thing that sucks about being Persian and living in a small town (or rather, one of those things) is that whenever your parents take you to a big city to have kebab it always has to be Persian kebab. I'd like to try other kinds, particularly turkish kebab. Is Greek kebab a thing btw?

Around here, the kebab is entirely Greek, Turkish, and Lebanese. I don't think I've ever had Persian kebab.

EDIT: Alright, I looked up a restaurant not too far away. The short review says, "The ambience is dignified and calm, the dishes artfully composed, the rice alone worth the trip. Housemade naan-like bread (taftoon) comes from a tandoor oven. Chicken soltani, our fave, is a skewer of barg (chunks), and kubideh (ground), with basmati rice and grilled tomato. For a pittance more, get a specialty rice. This appealing spot off the main road is not as busy as it should be."


My question for the Oracle: Can fluent speakers of Farsi and Afghan Dari understand each other?

 

[caketastydelish]

My father's answer (he comes from Iran and would know) :

More or less. They would not *completely* understand each other but they would basically get the jist of it.

 

[caketastydelish]

I have been thinking long and hard for the past month about converting to Zoroastrianism. This is not a joke, parody, or satire. I do not mean that as a shock value statement, but something I mean with absolute sincerity.

I won't say it's easy. There are hardly any of us left, and there's certainly none where I live (a small town in Texas). I don't even know where I would be able to go in the entire united states with a Zoroastrian temple (or organization). I think this might be my best bet.

I have been researching the religion extensively and agree with so much of their beliefs. The religion was almost entirely wiped out by invaders, it was on a level equivalent to the holocaust... except this time we never recovered. Even today most Iranians (or Iranian Americans) know virtually nothing about it. So what would anyone else think? I wore a Faravahar necklace, and had a conversation with someone who has both a Bachelors and Masters degree in history. I asked him where he thought my Necklace came from, and he said 'something Egyptian'. The numbers of Zoroastrians continue to dwindle and within a few generations we'll be completely gone.

I strive to:

a) make sure we don't get wiped out
b) promote the reformed Zoroastrian movement. What does this mean?

Well there are basically three levels (similar to Orthodox Jews vs reformed jews)

a) No one can be Zoroastrian unless their parents are. No converts allowed.
b) No one can be Zoroastrian unless they are of Iranian of Afghani ethnic heritage. In other words, racism.
c) Anyone can be Zoroastrian as long as they believe in the faith and convert.

c) is what I strongly feel is correct, and what I want to promote and be a part of.

 

[jackelgull]

I have been thinking long and hard for the past month about converting to Zoroastrianism. This is not a joke, parody, or satire. I do not mean that as a shock value statement, but something I mean with absolute sincerity.

I won't say it's easy. There are hardly any of us left, and there's certainly none where I live (a small town in Texas). I don't even know where I would be able to go in the entire united states with a Zoroastrian. I think this might be my best bet.

I have been researching the religion extensively and agree with so much of their beliefs. The religion was almost entirely wiped out by invaders, it was on a level equivalent to the holocaust... except this time we never recovered. Even today most Iranians (or Iranian Americans) know virtually nothing about it. So what would anyone else think? I wore a Faravahar necklace, and had a conversation with someone who has both a Bachelors and Masters degree in history. I asked him where he thought my Necklace came from, and he said 'something Egyptian'. The numbers of Zoroastrians continue to dwindle and within a few generations we'll be completely gone.

I strive to:

a) make sure we don't get wiped out
b) promote the reformed Zoroastrian movement. What does this mean?

Well there are basically three levels (similar to Orthodox Jews vs reformed jews)

a) No one can be Zoroastrian unless their parents are. No converts allowed.
b) No one can be Zoroastrian unless they are of Iranian of Afghani ethnic heritage. In other words, racism.
c) Anyone can be Zoroastrian as long as they believe in the faith and convert.

c) is what I strongly feel is correct, and what I want to promote and be a part of.

What does converting to Zoroastrian entail? Like what traditions and beliefs are core to the faith? All I know about Zoroastrianism is that it apparently allows for incest? And not much else

 

[caketastydelish]

https://zant.org/about/introduction-to-zoroastrianism/

That should get you started. Other than that you have to ask me a more specific question.

edit: I'll give you some more, though.

First, fire is essential to the faith. Many of our rituals directly involve fires and bonfires. We believe jumping over fires cleanses our souls from evil spirits, among other things. Fire is seen as 'the light', fighting against 'the darkness'.

The best pop culture equivalent I can give you is the video game Destiny.

One thing about the faith that I love is we believe people can follow any religion and still find God, as long as they do good deeds. In fact, this is why the more 'orthodox' Zoroastrians don't accept converts - they can and will go to heaven anyway, we should not try to take them away from their original culture. God intended for them to follow their own path, just as much as we follow ours.

We have respect for nature and the environment. To destroy the earth is to insult God, or Ahura Mazda.

 

[Mouthwash]

I have been thinking long and hard for the past month about converting to Zoroastrianism. This is not a joke, parody, or satire. I do not mean that as a shock value statement, but something I mean with absolute sincerity.

I won't say it's easy. There are hardly any of us left, and there's certainly none where I live (a small town in Texas). I don't even know where I would be able to go in the entire united states with a Zoroastrian temple (or organization). I think this might be my best bet.

That is just so amazing. I heard that conversions were happening in some places in Kurdistan, but I don't recall where I read about it.

 

[AdamCrock]

Have You ever been to Persepolis ruins ? If so are there any signs of extraterrestials in the culture (Similar to those found in Sumerian and Egyptian cultures) ?

Do You know anyone still following Zoroastrianism ? Is it not forbidden to accept new followers ? (I've read that they do not accept new convertites because a deal they made with India when fleeing from Islam but maybe in Texas it will be possible ?

Darius's I beard : cool or not ?

 

[caketastydelish]

No. I haven't been to Iran. I would love to go, that is a trip I cannot afford. I hope the extraterrestrial comment was a joke.

My understanding is in India the Zoroastrian community mostly doesn't accept converts. In other parts of the world (such as the United States) they usually do. It is important that we do.

Darius's beard: Never felt it, wouldn't know.

 

[AdamCrock]

Thanks for the answears The comment about extraterrestrials was a joke although I have been interested in Ancient Summerian and Ancient Egyptian hierogliphs such as these:

Spoiler :

I treat it as an interesting historical mystery. I was not making fun of Persians under any circumstances mind You. I'm just interested in that sort of things since I saw "The Fourth Kind" movie and was wondering if similar hierogliphs are present in Persia/Iran as well

 

[NovaKart]

My understanding of this, and I may be wrong, was that Parsees, the Zoroastrians in India and Pakistan, do not accept converts but others around the world do. I suppose the Parsees escaped to the subcontinent a long time ago and their religion evolved differently.

I know some Kurdish people who say they converted to Zoroastrianism but I got the impression they were not really very knowledgeable about it and didn't practice it really.

I think the problem is 1. If you convert to a religion for cultural/ethnic reasons and it doesn't come out of genuine faith then it makes it hard to become very devoted to it. 2. If you're not part of a community that also follows this religion it's hard to go it alone. Maybe if there was a broad movement it would work.

It makes me think of how people tried to make Kwanzaa into a holiday but it just didn't work.

I was invited to an event once where they had a Faravahar statue and they had poetry and musical performances. This was in Kurdistan. A friend of mine told me about it and he's Kakai, not Zoroastrian, so I'm not sure how he's involved in that group. They had some fires set up outside and traditional Kurdish food.