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Comment by yazaddaruvala | Hacker News Reader

I am both Zoroastrian and Parsi, and while I adore seeing these articles on the top of HN (i.e. on a global stage), I am extremely curious:

Who is upvoting these articles about my mostly forgotten culture and why?

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I’ve found that many of us who try to stay on the “cutting edge” of new wrt our professions and hobbies also have an interest in history of people and religions and a general interest with things that go back far into history. It’s not a complete overlap by any means, but it isn’t an uncommon pairing to find in people.

Interesting archeological news, and things about less well know cultures are often shared and upvoted here as well.

I think most Indians, at least Hindus, have a favorable opinion of Indian parsis and like seeing articles about them. At least I’m one of them.

> Who is upvoting these articles about my mostly forgotten culture and why?

I've read some into Zoroastrianism and find it super interesting, that's why I upvoted it.

I think those interested in history and skeptics find it interesting to learn about how early Abrahamic religions were potentially influenced by Zoroastrianism

Tbh, I've just been down a few wikipedia rabbit holes in my time and came across it reading up on religions. If I was actually at all religious, I'd like to have been Zoroastrian. It at least would be closest to making the most sense to me compared to a lot of others. If more people were aware of it, I see it as a good thing.

At this stage of my life I accept for a certain group of the population, they need religion to fill a gap in some people's need to feel like they belong. If that gap is filled with something that has less ties to imperialism and is a general ethos of "Be excellent to each other" I'm totally fine with an upvote now and then.

Me. Probably the other Parsi Zoroastrian here :-)

I am, because Also sprach Zarathustra.

But be aware that Nietzsches Zarathustra has not much in common with the original Zarathustra.

Rather the opposite, the original Zarathustra is considered the one, who brought the dualistic thinking of good vs. evil into this world.

Nietzsche wanted to get rid of it, to go beyound good and evil, so he lets the creator of this (in his and my opinion) harmful philosophy negate this philosophy.

I find Iranian/Persian history fascinating. I want to visit sometime. I had to put it off when I was studying in the US, … for obvious reasons.

The following might be an unpopular notion here on HN, but do not entirely understand why the US has a chip on their shoulder about Iran. Seems US is the aggressor in that conflict.

Bruised ego due to diplomats cough-cough CIA employees being held captive during revolution (countries seem to forgive less than people), plus all the geopolitical games the the whole oil-rich region. Their stubborn attitude in ie nuclear program isn't helping.

What is surreal is the strong support of quite brutal Saudi regime just next door which doesn't uphold basically any values we hold dear in the west, plus most 9/11 perpetrators came from there. Former strong support of Saddam is also something they would rather ignore.

That's right.

If one were to wipe last 30~40 years of current affairs from my memory and ask me which countries in the middle east could be among US's allies, I would have gone with Iran and Israel. Their (I mean Iranian people here, they are among the most friendly, open minded and helpful people I have met) value system seems so much better aligned, compared to say Saudi Arabia.

Instead we have US backing Iraq, unprovoked shooting down of civilian jet with no apologies forthcoming, scuttling the future of a democracy.

There is quite a bit of gap between the talk (of spreading democracy) and the walk.

Jewish people and Persian people have a long and harmonious history in settling in various parts in India. This makes it all the more strange to an Indian.

I am interested because I really like fire and how it is an integral part of Zoroastrianism.

Indian people probably

I learned of Zoroastrianism from EU4 (the video game) and did some Wikipedia deep dives. I always enjoy learning about minority religions.

When I was in college I met a few Zoroastrians who I quite got along with. They explained to me their religion and background and I've found it quite fascinating and interesting ever since -- most particularly the deep connections between it and the Judeo-Christian religious environment I grew up in.

> Who is upvoting these articles about my mostly forgotten culture and why?

I feel like Zoroastrianism is pretty mainstream, at least in the U.S. Even Obama celebrated Nowruz.

I doubt most Americans have even ever heard of Zoroastrianism.

If you read about the Ancient Greeks, you will necessarily read about Ancient Persia. If you read about Ancient Persia, you will hear of Zoroastrianism.

But that's not necessarily to say that you're wrong.

The average person's knowledge of ancient Greece and Persia doesn't extend far beyond 300 and other sword and sandal type epics. They think of Greek deities as ancient history. Worship of the Greek pantheon isn't a mainstream thing. They probably don't give any thought to the ancient Persians' religion. Certainly I don't imagine most people know it's still around.

EDIT: Were the Achaemenid Persians (the "bad" guys in 300) even Zoroastrian? Or did Zoroastrianism come later?

The story of 300 depicts the Persians in a very negative way lol. They don’t seem at all Zoroastrian in the movie (multiple idols, and weird rituals, no likeness of anything Zoroastrian shows up). It’s a great movie tho!

In reality those Persians were Zoroastrian, at least in name. I say “in name” because the Battle of Thermopylae (i.e. 300) would have been 500-2000 years after the creation of the Zoroastrian religion[0], I’m sure more than a little was altered/forgotten.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire

[0] We don’t have much recorded history that dates back that far and it’s a matter of academic debate when exactly the religion started.

> The story of 300 depicts the Persians in a very negative way lol

For sure. The movie's framing device is a Spartan soldier recounting a glorified version of the Battle of Thermopylae, and building up Leonidas as a heroic figure, as a way to fire up the troops for the next battle against the Persians. That's why I put "bad" in quotes - it's Spartan propaganda.

Most Christians would at least be familiar with a few Zoroastrian figures--the Magi (aka Wisemen) who bring gifts for the baby Jesus. Magi, or at least a mythology of them, had been considered peculiarly knowledgeable and wise since at least Aristotle.

It's niche for me. I heard about it in class a few times and every time it's mentioned learned slightly more about it. Definitely stood out amongst world religions for me, though

I am American and for me it was a mandatory religion to learn along with hinduism, islam, christianity, judaism, jainism, sikhism, buddhism, taoism, and confucianism.

Though I think many would argue that confucianism is not a religion but a philosophy and my education might have been different than others.

Nowruz is basically a cultural holiday (with roots in Zoroastranism) celebrated by all of Iranians and some surrounding countries regardless of their religion.

> Even Obama celebrated Nowruz.

Nowruz isn't an exclusively Zoroastrianism festival. It's also the New Year's Day celebrated as a secular holiday by many ethnic groups.

Nowruz is celebrated by many Iranian-speaking peoples, even ones who had little historical connection to Zoroaster's reforms. It is best seen as a general ethnic Iranian holiday, not a specifically religious Zoroastrian one.

Me because of my friend who is like you.

Everybody who loves Bohemian Rhapsody!

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