Offering of fuel or fragrance to fire is a widespread religious practice in many religious traditions across the world. Offering fragrant firewood or incense to the fire is an act of purification and transformation linking one’s senses to the Divine and fire acting as a mediator that carries offerings upward. However, in many ancient traditions, including Zoroastrianism there used to be a tradition of offering the fat of a ritually sacrificed animal (usually goat or sheep) to the fire. Even the early Vedic practise was to offer animal fat to the fire during certain rituals but it was later substituted with ghee (clarified butter.)

In this article an attempt has been made to objectively study the evolution of offering to sacred fires not only in the Avesta and Vedic traditions but also ancient Greek and Roman traditions. There are amazing similarities!

Atash Zohr is a Pahlavi term for an ancient Zoroastrian ritual offering made to the fire. It specifically refers to the ritual act of offering fat from a sacrificed animal (usually goat or sheep) to the fire and causing the flames to flare up, symbolizing intensification or the strengthening (Zohr) of the fire. This practice thrived in Iran and among India Parsis, almost up to the first quarter of the 20^th century. It was discontinued later.

The earliest historical reference to the Atash Zohr is by the ancient Greek philosopher and historian Strabo who records: “to fire they (the Persians) offer sacrifice by adding dry wood without the bark and by placing fat on top of it.” He further describes the fat as being a portion of the omentum, a lace-like, fatty membrane surrounding the stomach and internal organs of a goat or sheep.

This ritual appears to go back to the Indo-Iranian period (2000 to 1500 BCE) since the same offering was also made by the Brahmins of India to Agni (fire.) According to scholars the ritual of Atash Zohr probably has its origin in rewarding the essence of the household fire for cooking the family’s daily nourishing meals. In the Atash Niyaesh we pray: ‘Daityo aesme buyao’ which means, “mayest thou proper in fuel or be well nourished!”

There are numerous references to this ritual in various Pahlavi books including a Manichean text of the Sasanian period and the writings of the prominent High Priest Dastur Manuscihr belonging to the post-Sasanian period. From these texts it appears that it was obligatory to offer Atash Zohr on various occasions including at the enthronement ceremony of an Atash Bahram and regularly thereafter in the maintenance of this most sacred fires; at each of the six Gahambar (seasonal feasts); at the ceremony at dawn of the fourth day after death (Chaharum); at various rites of penitence for grievous sins; in thank-giving for the birth of a child and after any other auspicious event. The offering could be made at any ‘pure fire’ be it the hearth fire or at a fire-temple.

Many years ago, when I discussed this matter with a very learned scholar High Priest, he told me that fat of a sacrificed sheep or goat has historically been offered at most, if not all Atash Bahram in India and Iran. He informed me that it would be only a small thin portion of omentum which would be properly washed with well water, dried in the sun and covered with incense before offering it as Zohr to the fire.

In the seventeenth century the Italian traveller J. F. Gemelli recorded the offering of “the fat of a sheep” to a temple fire in Isfahan (see A Collection of Voyages and Travels) and the famous scholar and linguist Anquetil du Perron also refers to this practice being in vogue in Surat in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the German philologist and orientalist Martin Haug had found this practice still a living memory among Parsi priests.

While this fact may shock many ardent Parsi vegetarians, in 1823, the Bhagaria Anjuman of Navsari, answering an inquiry from Parsis in Bombay, declared that this observance was so important that maintaining it overrode even the custom of observing of one of the Zoroastrian non-slaughtering days (Bahman, Mohr, Gosh and Ram), should the death-ceremony and such a day coincide. The zohr, it was then declared, was to be offered to an Atash Bahram or an Atash-e-Adaran, together with frankincense and aloe wood. In Surat, the Chaharum offering, from a white sheep or goat, was made by Parsi priestly families even in the 1930s and the practice was continued a little longer in Zoroastrian villages around Yazd.

Other Rituals

In ancient Vedic rituals, the offering of animal fat, known as vapa or omentum, formed a key part of the Agniṣomiya-pasuyaga, a sacrificial rite dedicated to Agni and Soma. Vapa was regarded as a reservoir of energy, offered to nourish Agni, much like Zohr in Zoroastrian practice. Brahmin priests performed the ritual using a special instrument called the vapasrapaṇi, while chanting sacred formulas. Over time, this practice was replaced by ghee, which held deep spiritual significance. The Rig Veda describes ghee as ‘the tongue of the divine beings’, with fire seen as a sacred medium carrying offerings to the gods.

Ancient Greek traditions associated fire offerings with the myth of Prometheus, who brought fire to humanity from Mount Olympus, enabling progress and civilisation. In ritual practice, Greeks offered the thigh bones of sacrificed animals wrapped in fat to the gods. This act, known as Thysia, produced fragrant smoke believed to please the deities and symbolically reserved the choicest portions for the divine.

In ancient Rome, offerings to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, reflected a deep spiritual connection between the home and the sacred. Fat from sacrifices was offered into the household fire, which was kept constantly burning. This daily act before meals created a sense of communion between the family and the divine presence believed to reside within the hearth.

Across other traditions, fire holds a central spiritual role. In Judaism, the eternal flame represents the continuous presence of God. Among Native American communities, fire is seen as a living, sacred force used in rituals of renewal, protection and transformation. Similarly, in Italian custom, burning written worries symbolizes release and purification, allowing individuals to let go of the past and embrace renewal with a sense of hope.