AKT. 11. PAESEE CEREMONIAL OBJECTS CASANOWICZ. 11 



2. Fire ladle. — Brass, nickel-plated. The sacred fire and all that is 

 connected with it must not come into contact with anything that may 

 defile it. A ladle is therefore used for putting wood chips into the 

 fire urn. Length, lU inches.— Bombay, India. (Plate 2, fig. 1, Cat. 

 No. 216053, U.S.N.m!^) 



3. Fire tongs.— Bvi^ss, nickel-plated. Used for picking up the 

 wood chips of the sacred fire which would be defiled if touched with 

 the hands. Length, 13^ inches.— Bombay, India. (Plate 2, fig. 3. 

 Cat. No. 216052, U.S.N.M.) 



4. Sprigs of the Haoma Plant.— The Haoma (Sanskrit, soma, 

 Pahlavi and Persian, horn), also called moon-plant and swallow- 

 wood, of the milkweed family, Sacrostemma hrevistigma {Asclepias 

 aclda) . To the juice expressed from its stems were attributed inspir- 

 ing and healing properties, and it played an important part in the 

 ritual and sacrifices of ancient India. It was personified and deified 

 and worshiped as a god by the Hindus. In the Parsee ritual the 

 haoma is one of the offerings made in the service of the Yasna. the 

 principal of Zoroastrian liturgy, which is recited or chanted by two 

 priests, known as the Zaoti and Rathvi, before the sacred fire. The 

 twigs of the secred plant are washed and purified while reciting a 

 prayer, then laid aside in a metal box for at least thirteen months and 

 thirteen days before using in the ceremony. Under elaborate cere- 

 monies the twigs are pounded in a mortar, the expressed juice is 

 mixed with milk and holy water and strained. The draft thus ob- 

 tained concentrates in itself all the virtues of plants, animals, and 

 the waters. It is drunk sacramentally by the priests in the course of 

 the service, and is administered to the dying as a " draft of immor- 

 tality." The " green haoma " of this world is a type of the " white 

 haoma" {hao77ia-i-saphid) of the gaokorena-tree, the emblem of im- 

 mortality. In addition to the haoma the pomegranate and the bar- 

 som (Avesta, haresman) are used in the ceremony. The barsom con- 

 sists of twigs or sprays of a certain plant or, where these are not 

 obtainable, as in winter, of brass rods, from five to thirty-five, tied 

 in a bundle and held by the priest at a certain point of the sacrifice. 

 Besides the sacred plants the offering comprises small cakes (drana), 

 peculiarly marked, goats' milk (shir), an egg and melted butter 

 (ghee). These are also eaten by the officiating priests in the course 

 of the service. 



The true Zoroastrian sacrifice, the Parsees say, is the offering of 

 good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. — Yezd, Persia. (Cat. 

 No. 231789, U.S.N.M.) Gift of A. V. Williams Jackson. 



5. Offering tray. — Brass, nickel-plated. Used in the service of the 

 Afringans, which are prayers from the Khorda-Avesta (see above, 

 p. 3) recited only by priests. They are recited on a carpet spread 

 on the floor on which are placed, either in a metal tray or on plantain 



