The Shah Abbasi  Gahanbar
Held in ‘Dowlatkhaneh’ Fire Temple, Kerman

By  Armita Farahmand, Amordad correspondent
KERMAN (Amordadnews): Shah Abbasi  gahanbar ceremony was held on 11 Dey (1 January) on Soroush Izad Day of Dey month in Dowlatkhaneh Fire Temple of Kerman, with participation of a large number of Zoroastrians.
This ceremony, which started from dawn, with prayers recited by Mobeds Fereidoon Hormozdi, Mehran Gheibi, Hooman Fravahari and Farhang Fallahati, together with Dahmobed shahriyar Jamshidi, ended with entertainment of the participants with ‘sirog’ (traditional fried bread), ‘sedab’ (cooked rue with bread), ‘dono’ (a dish of 7 types of lentils), roasted meat, and yoghurt and dates.  It is said that this gahanbar is held from the time of Shah Abbas Safavid because of a dream that Shah Abbas’s mother saw and many Kermani Zoroastrians were saved from massacre because of this dream.
The story of this gahanbar is narrated by the senior members of Kerman Zoroastrian community, as follows:  “In the time of Shah Abbas Safavid no blood money was charged to a Moslem for killing a Zoroastrian, but in a vice versa case the blood money charged to a Zoroastrian was very high.  In that same period of time, in a struggle, one Moslem was killed by a Zoroastrian and the cruel judge in Kerman gave orders for a very unjust penalty.  He ordered that one person dips his hand in honey and then puts it in a container full of millet.  Then, the same number of Zoroastrians as the number of millets stuck to his hand should be massacred.  That same night, Shah Abbas’s mother saw a dream that Kerman city was caught in flames of fire.  Shah Abbas rushed to Kerman and went among the people in disguise.  When he went among the Zoroastrians who had gathered in ‘Bob Kamal’ and came to know the story, he ordered to stop this group massacre.  Years
ago, this gahanbar was prayed in Bob Kamal (a picnic site a few km outside Kerman city, which is in ruins now).  This year too, the four Kermani boys who would organize this gahanbar in Dowlatkhaneh Fire Temple, were missing.  They were drowned in Mazandaran Sea (Caspian) two years ago.