Recently in Zoroastrianism Category

The Alicia Silverstone movie Clueless is a clever update of Jane Austen's Emma, but I never thought of it as a milestone of Iranian culture.

Hey, ya learn something new every day:

The hit 1995 teen movie “Clueless” might be known best for introducing Americans to Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd, but first-time novelist Porochista Khakpour remembers it for another reason: It injected Iranian Americans into the U.S. popcultural consciousness.

“There’s that scene when (Silverstone’s character) Cher says, And that’s the Persian Mafia. You can’t hang with them unless you own a BMW.’” Khakpour, 29, delivered the line in an authoritative teen-queen squeak. It was a “hideous” milestone for Iranian-born, South Pasadena, Calif.-bred, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Khakpour, substituting for the stereotype of Iranians as veiled women and religious fanatics another unappealing notion — of an excessively wealthy, insular immigrant community “in shoulder pads and gold jewelry.”

Khakpour’s goal was to challenge both stereotypes in her first novel, “Sons and Other Flammable Objects,” which was published this fall. Her main characters, like her own family, are resolutely middle class and are more Zoroastrian than Muslim.

New Jersey is not generally known for being a place that has exotic objects you can't find in Manhattan, unless you're looking for a lawn, cheap real estate . . . or a Zoroastrian jewelry shop.  Sure, Manhattan has a gazillion Tibetan stores and new age emporia, but you'll find the Zoroastrian Shop in good ol' Voorhees, NJ. 

And for another kind of Persian pride, check out this creative new meditation on the tension between freedom and security. 

Internet dating can spruce up your love life, but can it also save the truth of God on Earth?  Today's Wall Street Journal tells how the Zoroastrians, a waning religious movement with followers mostly in Iran and India, are replenishing their ranks by finding love online. 

OK, so you've won heavenly rewards by signing up on theparsimatch.com and scoped out a Zoroastrian hottie who really fires up your inner light.  Is there any jewelry you can give or wear to show that you've got the moral fortitude to propagate the faith?

Well, you could shoot the moon & give the 4th-6th century necklace pictured above, which sports an image of Gayomard, the first man.  But let's face it, that's a thousand bucks & that's a lot to drop on your first meeting with an internet crush.

If your soul is torn between the high price of fine jewelry and the desire for true love, you might instead play it a little safer and get a nice pendant of Faravahar, which represents the human spirit and its ascent toward God.

What's Nietzsche got to do with it?  Well, the source of the pun might become more clear if I note another way of saying the name of the prophet Zoroaster:  Zarathustra!