News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
THE FIRE WORSHLPERS.
THE ANCIENT TRIBE OF GUEBRES,
FOLLOWERS OF ZOROASTER-
A Peculiar Sect in Persia With a
Superstitious Reverence for Fire
An Honest and Reliable People

| A Peculiar Sect in Persia With a
Superstitious Reverence for Fire
An Honest and Reliable People
The religion of the Guebres is several
centuries older than Christianity. They
| are followers of Zoroaster, who regarded
the sun, moon and stars as objects of
worship, and fire as a sacred element to
be treated with reverence and awe.
Wherever they are sufficiently numerous
and wealthy, they keep alight in their
temples sacred fires, which are never al
lowed to become extinct from year to
year and from generation to generation.
Priests are employed to keep these ever
burning fires ailame by constant attend
ance and feeding them with fuel. In
Bombay and other Indian cities, where
the Guebres lin India they are known as
ParseeS) are still numerous and wealthy,
the sacred flames are maintained at great
expense. The fires are fed with sandal
wood and other fragrant and costly sub
stances, and large quantities of spices
are cast into the flames to be consumed.
They treat the ever burning fire with the
same superstitiOus reverence that the
Hlndoos bestow upon their idols, rich
Guebres spending their money freely to
present it with fragrant woods and
spices. The priests, whose function it is
to replenish the fires with fuel and see
that they are never permitted to go out,
regard the flame as very sacred thing.
so much So that they are said to wear
gag over their mouth and nostrils when
they approach the sacred flame, lest they
should deflc it by contact with human
breath
One curious result-which doubt not
many people will regard as good one
of the Guebres' reverence for fire, is that
none of them indulge in the habit of
smoking tobacco. They may use tobacco
as snuff, or even chew it if so inclined,
but the Guebre who should be found
with lighted pipe or cigar in his mouth
would at once become an object of alb.
horence to his co-religionists. They
would regard him with much repug-
nance, as a person who had wantonly
dehled his own god by putting his rep
resentative, fire, to an unholy use. Cen
turies ago, when Mohammedanism, the
religion of the sword, swept over Persia,
offering to the old worshiping popu.
lation the alternative of conversion to the
new religion or death by the sword, all
the Guebres that preferred to cling to
their own belief and could get away
fled to India. In the City of Bombay
alone there are now about one hundred
thousand worshipers, or near one
seventh of the whole population. They
are the most enterprising people in India,
controlling large share of the commerce
of the entire country. Their business en-
terprise and ability has made them very
wealthy, so much so that the present
King of Persia, ''Nasr- -ud- Deem, Shah
in-Shah, Asylum of the Universe" " etc,
has lately turned his august mind
in their direction. Not long ago he sent
a memorial to the wealthy Guebres of
Bombay, stating how much he loved
them, and inviting them to gather up
their riches and come back to their an
cient home. The Guebres, however, are
not to be caught in any such oriental trap
as this. They are now enjoying happi-
ness and prosperity under the British
rule in India, and are too wise and wary
in these days to place themselves and
their property within reach of an orien-
tai despot, even though he be so amiabie
a specimen as the "Asylum of the Uni
verse"
A curious thing about the few remain
ing Guebres in Persia is, that while the
rest of the population about shem, both
Persian and Armenian, are notoriously
dishonest and hardly know what it is to
tell the truth, they are an honest and re
liable people. AS a consequence of this
recognized valuable trait of character in
the fire worshiping families, they are
almost always to be found occupying
positions of trust. Their chief occupa-
tion is that of guardians over the private
property of wealthy Persians. Thus it
would almost seem that the last functions
of the ancient fire worshipers in Persia
was to point A moral to teach MS that
honesty is recognized ard appreciated in
every part of the world. - Commercial