13-Year-Old Zoroastrian Priest Keeps Tradition Alive

When Hormuz Javat was 8 years old, he faced a pretty serious decision: did he want to begin training as a Zoroastrian priest?

He’d have to begin soon because the training took four years, building up to his ordination at age 12.

Hormuz is a Parsi, a follower of the Zoroastrian faith. His ancestors fled Persia after facing religious persecution and settled in the Indian subcontinent in the late six hundreds.

Today, there are about ten thousand Parsis living in Canada, but there aren’t enough Zoroastrian spiritual leaders to sustain the community.

It’s a familiar dilemma for faith groups all over the world.

In her documentary Becoming My Mother’s Priest, Sujata Berry tells the story of how one family is keeping the tradition alive.

Published on Zoroastrian.net