Every year, Dae Mahino, Khorshed Roj is observed as Zarthost-No-Diso, or the day that our beloved prophet, Zarathustra left the earthly, mortal life.  This year, Zarthost-No-Diso falls on Wednesday, the 24^th of May, 2017. Special prayer sessions are organized on this day, with prayers and religious discourses focusing on the life and works of our great Prophet.

Being a day of mourning, it is observed as a solemn occasion and religious ceremonies and services are held in Agiaries or prayed in a simple fashion at one’s home. Relevant prayers marked for ‘Zarthost-No-Diso’ include the ‘Afringan’ and ‘Baj’ ceremonies performed in a fire temple or one can also pray at home the ‘Stom -No-Kardo’, taking the name of prophet Zarathushtra and his ancestors and family members. You can also recite the lines ‘Ustano Jato Atrava Yo Spitamo Zarathushtro’ 101 times – meaning ‘we are thankful to Dadar Ahura Mazda for sending prophet Zarathushtra to this earth as an ‘Aathravan’ (priest).’

Considered as the very first Prophet of the world, Zarathustra lived amongst the people, bringing peace and happiness to all. It is said that, when he had accomplished what had sent him to do, his time to leave the world arrived and he reunited with Ahura Mazda. Though there has been a debate on the time and period of his birth and the way he died, Zarathustra is known to have spent three decades of his life at King Vistashp’s court, till the time of his death at the age of seventy-seven. There has also been much speculation as regards the death of our Prophet. Some historians, going by the Shahnama, believe that Zarathustra was killed at the altar, during an invasion by the Turanian Army in the storming of Balkh. However, others speculate that the person killed was not Zarathustra, and that Zarathustra was killed by a strike of lightning. The version vetoing that suggests that Zarathustra was praying in a fire temple when the murderer planned to strike him but before he could, the murderer was himself struck by lightning, that was conjured via divine intervention. After this Zarathustra ascended into the sky. And yet another story speculates that he died in his sleep having lived up to a ripe, old age.