I didn't know an awful lot about Zoroastrianism before starting this trip, infact I probably knew nothing other than it was a rare, unusual and dwindling religion furtively practiced mainly in and around persia. And so it was with a pleasant surprise that in the Silk Road Oasis of Yazd, that I discovered it to be one of the few remaining Zoroastrian centres. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest surviving religions estimated to date dating back to around 1500BC (though this is still under discussion and some followers consider ti to date to 6000BC) and although its current followers number less than 200,000 worldwide it had a profoudn influence on humanity. It is likely to have been the first monotheistic religion and has profoundly influenced Judaism and Christianity.

The religion was founded by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster in Greek; Zarthosht in India and Persia) who lived in Persia, modern day Iran. Admirably, he preached monotheism in a polytheistic land and was attacked for his teaching, but finally won the support of a Sassanid king who decided to make Zoroastrianism the state religion until the 7th Century AD when the Arabs invaded Persia causing many followers to flee to India. Those who remained behind have survived centuries of persecution, forced conversion, heavy taxes, etc and they now number only about 20,000 and reside chiefly in Yazd, Kernan and Tehran.

Wityh Jeremie and a remarkable solo Japanese girl, Miho, we set off to see the Towers of Silence where up until the 1960s, the dead were taken and were left to be devoured by the vultures. The reason being that to bury the dead would contaminate the pure earth. The "highlight" of the ceremony (if I can use thatword) is to watch which eye is plucked first by the vultures since the right eye is supposed to ensure good fortune for the soul, while the left eye is not worth thinking about. Sadly the whole area has been truned into a dirt track and local kids rev their motorbikes and ride up and down the dusty paths shouting "hello mister" to wandering tourists and consequently the whole place is no longer silent.

This practice has been stopped and nearby a graveyard serves modern Zoroastrians. In order not to contaminate the ground the body is placed in a thick concrete tomb upon burial and at one end of the graveyard, which looked like a building site, the bricks and concrete blocks were strewn around. A line of pits, some prepared with concrete grimly awaited the next arrivals.

We took the bus back into town and our next stop was Ateshkadeh fire temple where a flame has been constant alive in Yazd since 1174 and even longer before then (but elsewhere). Fire is one of the Zoroastrian's most well-known symbols representing teh energy of Zoroaster and provides the focus for Zoroastrian prayers. An old Zoroastrian at the temple tried to explain the essence of the religion in broken english and with much pointing at unreadable arabic script. And about all we got out of it was teh importance of creation and wisdom. A far better explanation is available on the Wikipedia website at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism if interested.