GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



looking sweetmeats, bags of sugar and cocoanuts. 

 Every Parsi guest took one of each I believe on 

 leaving, including also a flower. A man was going 

 to give me my share, but a Parsi stopped him, ex- 

 plaining that there were other arrangements made for 

 us. We left after dark ; the gardens were lighted 

 with lamps and lanterns ; but the other guests, I 

 believe, kept the festivities up till midnight. 



The religion of the Parsis is over 3,000 years old, 

 and was founded by their great prophet Zoroaster. 

 They are usually spoken of as Fire-worshippers, and 

 people believe they actually worship fire, but this is 

 not so. They worship one God, and fire is an em- 

 blem — nothing more, but held in great reverence, as 

 they consider fire, on account of its purity, activity, 

 and incorruptibility, and also brightness, as the best 

 symbol of God, and for that reason they are ordered 

 to pray with their faces towards it or the sun. Also 

 they look upon fire as the most wonderful mani- 

 festation of God's creative power. I believe they 

 never willingly put out any fire, but let it burn out. 

 In Bombay there are several fire temples open day 

 and night for the people to enter and pray, the 

 sacred fire in which is never allowed to go out. 



It is most interesting to follow the customs and 

 methods of their worship before fire ; for instance, 

 to begin with, it undergoes many ceremonies — the 

 sacred fire has been ignited from the warmth of 

 other fires, without touching, nine times to make it 



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