This-Worldlyness and Other-Worldyness

Culture Orientation “THIS-WORLDLYNESS AND OTHER-WORLDYNESS” Observations in Persian Culture

Zartosht Joe Azadi Chapman University Orange, California

Introduction Cultures can be classified into “This Worldly-Oriented” and “Other-Worldly oriented “, in the same way that individuals can be classified. “This- Worldliness” refers to interest in, concern with, or devotion to things of this world as opposed to a future stage of existence, as after death (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 1997), known as the other world.

An “Other-Worldly Oriented Culture” de-emphasizes living conditions in this world. It puts great value on another world, which is supposed to exist beyond this physical world, and where people are supposed to go after death. This kind of culture encourages activities much relevant to the other world, even at the expense of this-worldly related activities. This can lead to negligence toward people s’ this-worldly needs, which, in turn, can lead to a lower standard of living and undesirable social conditions.

A “ this worldly oriented culture “ puts great value on this- worldly life, and it emphasizes the priority of the living conditions in this world. Such a culture encourages this-worldly orientation of groups and individuals and provides opportunities relevant to it. These things are conducive to social change and progress.

Whether a culture is “this-worldly oriented” or “other- worldly oriented” can strongly create or stop many social processes and social conditions in human society. This can lead to, or stop, various social changes, which in turn can affect the life of many people.

Since people, to a large extent, are the products of their own culture, it would be logical to say that orientation of individuals is a product of the orientation of their culture. In other words, this-worldly oriented cultures produce this-worldly oriented individuals and other worldly oriented cultures produce other worldly oriented individuals.

An “other-worldly oriented individual “is mainly concerned with things relevant to the other world, and this world is his second priority, at best. Such a person is not very likely to give sufficient attention to affairs of this world and to try hard enough to change this world in order to make it a better place to live, and to explore and enjoy all possibilities of life.

A “this-worldly oriented individual “has strong interest in this world, is much concerned with the affairs of this world, is devoted

1 to activities and enjoyments relevant to this world, and has an inclination to improve this world. Such a person gives first priority to this world and if he has any priority for the other world, it will be a secondary priority. A “this-worldly oriented individual” is a social participant and an agent of social change. Because his major concern is this world, he is much more likely to try to bring about changes in society in order to make it a better place to live. Such a person is also more likely to try to enjoy life as much as possible.

Culture Orientation studies Culture orientation study is a social research, which tries to find out whether a culture is generally this-worldly oriented or the other-worldly oriented. For all the previously mentioned reasons, culture orientation studies should be significantly attractive to social scientists. Despite the significance, this field of study has not received attention from social researchers. In this paper I suggest a methodology for culture orientation studies, and, on the basis of the suggested methodology, I will make observations on Persian Culture to see if it is this-worldly, or the other-worldly oriented.

Methodology The first step in the study of culture orientation is to identify the indicators of this- worldly and the other-worldly orientation of culture. An important component of any culture is its social customs. Social customs are ways of thinking or acting that are characterized of a group of people (Encyclopedia Americana, 1997). A major component of social customs is group ceremonies. Group ceremonies are formalized or stylized performances, often public and always involving of more than one participant (Seymour- Smith, 1986). Group ceremonies bring people together in one or more places for shared actions. Examples of group ceremonies are ceremonies of Independence Day, Memorial Day, and the New Year Day. Culture orientation, as defined in this paper, can be studied through group ceremonies. If group ceremonies in a culture, in a period of one year, are mostly oriented towards the event of this world, it can be concluded that social customs, and hence the culture itself, is a “this-worldly oriented culture”. In the same way, if group ceremonies, in a period of one year, are mostly oriented towards the events of the other world, it can be concluded that social customs, and hence the culture itself is an other worldly oriented culture. In other words, we can take the orientation of social ceremonies as the indicator of the orientation of social customs, and take the orientation of social customs as the indicator of the orientation of the culture. On the basis of this methodology, I make and report observations of group ceremonies in Persian Culture, in one year.

Group Ceremonies in Persian Culture Persian Culture, in this paper, refers to the social products, which have been produced by Persian People, during several thousand years of their history in the country that was called Persia previously, and today is called Iran. The social products brought from other countries and societies, such as foreign religions, have not been counted in this research.

2 Persian Culture, like other cultures, has its own components such as values, norms, language, literature, ideology, religion, social customs, etc…A major component of social customs in Persian Culture is Group Ceremonies.

In Persian Culture there are 27 group ceremonies in a period of one year. Here is a short introduction of the group ceremonies: 1 - Nourooz – meaning the new day. It is the festival of the New Persian Year. This festival begins in the first day of Persian New Year and it continues for 12 days (Mackey, 1996). Persian Year begins on the first day of spring (March 21), has 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.5 seconds. It is a true Solar Year. 2 - Zartosht‘s Birthday - Zartosht is the Persian Prophet. In English Literature, he has become known as Zoroaster. The Religion he introduced has become known as Zoroastrianism. He was born in the sixth day of the first month of the Persian Calendar, which is about March 27. The year the Prophet was born is in dispute (Ghrishman, 1961). Some Scholars have suggested sometimes between 1700 and 1500 BC (Boyce, 1979). Some have suggested about 1000 B C (Kashani, 1985}, still others have suggested 600 BC (The 21st Century Webster). Present day Iranian Zoroastrians mostly believe that the Prophet was around about 1700 B. C. According to this account, the Zoroastrian - Persian year of 3741 begins on March 21, 2003 (Calendar, 2002-2003). 3 – Sizdahbedar – the Persian Festival of springs. It is a full day of mass Outdoors Picnic, which occurs on the 13th day of the first month of the Persian Year, about April 2. 4 – Gahanbars – Gahanbar refers to a group festival and communal picnic that takes place for particular occasions. There are six Gahanbars during a Persian Year (Pangborn, 1983). Gahanbars seem to have been rooted in pastoral and farming society. They are done for such occasions as beginning of cultivation season, during harvest season, end of harvest season, winter, etc Her are the names of the six Gahanbars in English: Feast of mid-spring, feast of mid-summer, feast of bringing in the corn, feast of the home coming (of the herds from pasture), feast of mid-winter, feast of the year-end (Boyce, 1979). 5 – Chehelleh (yalda) – This is the Festival of the longest night of the year. It is the last night of autumn, which is also the last night of the 9th Month of the Persian Calendar, about December 22. People get together, eat, drink, tell stories, and read poems. The party starts early in the evening and continues till late night into the next morning. 6 – Sadeh Festival – The festival of the Lights. It is the festival of human’s discovery, maintenance, and use of fire. It is believed that making fire was discovered by one of the Ancient Persian kings, known as Houshang Shah; who celebrated it, and ordered that it be maintained and respected. This festival is celebrated by making large fires in outdoors at night and singing songs and dancing. It occurs 50 days before the end of Persian year, about January 30. 7 – Chaharshanbehsoori – means the Party-Wednesday. It is an outdoor evening festival which occurs in the last Wednesday of the year, a few days before March 21. Fire, singing, and dancing are the components of this festival. It has been believed that this festival washes out and takes away the weaknesses and sorrows of the old year and makes people fresh and ready for the New Year.. 8 - Monthly Festivals - There is a festival in each one of the 12 months of Persian Calendar, which totally gets to 12 festivals in one year. According to the Ancient Persian Calendar the days of the month, not the days of the week, have names. In each month the

3 name of one day is the same as the name of the month. In such a day, when the name of the month and the name of the day are the same, there is a festival (Pangborn, 1983).The name of each festival is also based on the name of the day and the month. Here are the names of 12 monthly festivals, starting from the first month in the Persian Calendar: Farvardingan, Ordibeheshtgan, Khordadgan, Teergan, Amordadgan, Shahreevargan, Mehrgan, Abangan, Azargan, Daygan, Bahmangan, and Espandgan 9 - Memorial Days – there are two group memorial ceremonies during each year for those who died recently, and for those who died in the past defending the Persian motherland. The first Memorial Day is on the 29 of Khordad, the third month in the Persian Calendar, which is June 19, and the second one is on 25 of Bahman, the 11th month in the Persian Calendar, which is the 14th of February (Calendar, 2002-2003). 10 – Zartosht‘s Memorial - Zartosht, the Persian Prophet, reportedly died on the 5th day of the 10th month of the Persian Calendar (December 26). In this day people gather in Zoroastrian temples and hear about his time, life and teachings.

This-worldly and other-worldly ceremonies Here is the classification of group ceremonies of Persian Culture into this worldly and other worldly Persian group ceremonies in a period of one year: This-worldly Oriented No. Other-worldly oriented No Nourooz (New Year Day) 1 Memorial Days 2 Sizdahbedar (spring festiv) 1 Zartosht's BD 1 Chehelleh (Winter Festival) 1 Zartosht's Memorial 1 Sadeh (fire festival) 1 Chaharshanbehsoori 1 Monthly Festivals 12 Gahanbars 6 Totals 23 4

Interpretation and conclusion: As the table shows: •There are 27 group ceremonies in a period of one year in Persian Culture •23 of the ceremonies (85 %) are this –worldly oriented. •Only 4 of the ceremonies (15 %) are other –worldly oriented. This observation clearly indicates that, in Persian Culture, group ceremonies are mostly this-worldly oriented. I take the orientation of group ceremonies as the indicator of the orientation of social customs, and the orientation of social customs as the orientation of the Persian culture itself. Because Persian culture emphasizes the affaires of this world so it is a this-worldly oriented culture. A this-worldly oriented culture in a free society can produce this-worldly oriented people who can bring about desirable social changes and accelerate social progress.

4 Bibliography •Boyce, Mary: Zoroastrians. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1979. P 18 and 33 •Calendar of California Zoroastrian Center, Westminster, California, 2002-2003 •Encyclopedia Americana, International Edition. Vol. 8, Grolier, Inc., 1997 •Ghirshman, R.: IRAN, PENGUIN BOOKS, 1961, P 161. •Kashani, Jamal: Iran’s Men of Destiny. Vantage Press. 1985. P 1 •Mackey, Sandra: The Iranians. Button Books. 1996. P 14 •Merriam Webster Dictionary. •Pangborn, Cyrus: Zoroastrianism, Advent Books, 1983. P 102 and 104 •Seymour-Smith, Charlotte: Dictionary of Anthropology. G. K. Hall, Co, 1986 •The 21st Century Webster Pocket Encyclopedia, V 10, Revised Edition, 2000.. P 268