Food, family and theatre: Here’s how Mumbaikars are bringing in Parsi New Year this year

"New Year is all about family!," says Freyan Bhathena, founding editor of Parsi Times, who now runs Word It Well, a content specialist business in Mumbai. "During the pandemic years we avoided the big get-together, but now we can't wait to head to Pune for a family reunion lunch," she adds.

For Parsis in India, Navroze, which translates to ‘New Day', is an occasion of utmost importance, bringing together the family members to rejoice the commencement of the New Year. Though celebrated in March globally according to the Iranian calendar, in India, it is observed on August 16 as per the Shahenshahi calendar.

The day of celebration is preceded by group prayers called ‘Hambandagi' at the Agiyari for a period of ten days, meant to pray for the dead and remember the loved ones. A day prior to Navroz, people attorn for their sins, cleanse their mind and pray for health, prosperity and bliss and look forward to beginning the festivities.

Living up to the traditions
New Year calls for new clothes, fresh thoughts, gratitude for life and a new beginning with day's sunrise. A Navroz morning in a Parsi household is all about dressing up, exchanging warm greetings, followed by the unmissable custom of visiting the fire temple or agiary and offering prayers.

"It is one of the most special days of the year and going to the fire temple with the entire family is an important memory I enjoy creating. New clothes, meeting lots and lots of people and wishing them the best for the year ahead is a wonderful way of bonding on the day," says Pearl Darayus Tirandaz, a social worker and founder of ‘Good deeds project' residing at Dadar's Parsi Colony.

For actor and theatre-director, Roshan Tirandaz, Navroz serves as an opportunity to reserve some time from one's hectic schedule for family and the community. It enables people to interact with community members, know more about them and update oneself about people's whereabouts.

The meet and greet with fellow community members, relatives and friends is followed by distribution of sweets, which mainly include Sutarfeni, a Gujarat speciality, sweet sev with raisins and dry fruits and fish-shaped mawa pedas, as fish is considered to be auspicious in the Parsi tradition.

While the morning begins with traditional sweets, afternoon lunch is a grand feast; it includes Pulao dal, Sali Boti, Patra fish, Jardaloo chicken, Topli Paneer and diverse varieties of fried fish and meat dishes. For dessert, people relish sev, ravo, sweet curd, jalebi, custard and many more. "Everyone is having a beer or shandy followed by dessert. The cousins enjoy the meal together," says Bhathena.

The evening festivities are largely a personal affair for many families with dinners and other outings planned. Roshan, who cherishes the presence of her children and grand-children during such occasions, believes Navroz is that time of the year when youngsters do not leave their family's side and that none of the plans are made without counting on the elders and senior citizens of the family.

Community gatherings
In addition to agiary and well-known Parsi restaurants, local theatres also become one of the spots for community meet-ups. For Pearl and many other families, attending a Parsi play on Navroz is super traditional and integral to the celebrations.

"It is a time-tested way to lift your spirits with laughter. This year there are more than five different plays to choose from. We definitely know how to keep the theatre life alive. And it is a great way to rekindle memories with old friends and meet hundreds of Parsis, Irani Zoroastrians at these plays," she adds.
Roshan, who has been running a production company named ‘Centre Stage' for 20-30 years now, explains that the process begins three to four months prior to Navroz with readings of different plays and scripts to select the most-fitting play for the audiences. After sorting permissions, the play is modified according to local Parsi humour and relatability.

Working with her husband, daughters and grand-children in the plays, Roshan stresses on how it is important to dedicate oneself entirely to these plays during that period. While the number of attendees varies every year depending on the theatre-capacity, digitisation and incoming OTT platforms are slowly eating up on the visibility of these plays.

After a two-year hiatus, the Centre Stage crew is back to entertain audiences at Bandra's Rangsharda auditorium and at Nana Chowk's Tejpal Hall. The genre of these plays is restricted to comedy; strictly no tragedy, crime or drama. "We Parsis believe in ‘Haso aur Hasao', so all these plays are comedy plays for families to come and laugh their hearts out for that moment. This is also why all the plays in Mumbai on 15th and 16th August are about comedy and enjoyment," says Roshan.

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