Zoroastrianism Winter School

Applications Open

Exploring the World's Oldest Monotheistic Tradition

About the Program

Co-organised by University of California, Irvine (Ferdowsi Presidential Chair in Zoroastrian Studies, Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, and the Department of Classics), SOAS/University of London (Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies), Sapienza - University of Rome (Department of Ancient World Studies),  and the University of Toronto Mississauga (Department of Historical Studies), this Winter School offers a rare and immersive opportunity for students drawn to anthropology, art history, archaeology, philosophy, religion, language, cultures, and history. Participants will engage with leading academics in the field while networking with fellow students who share a passion for one of humanity's most formative yet least-known traditions.

This is not merely a classroom experience. Thanks to the collaboration with the Zoroastrian Association of California, students will engage directly with members of the Zoroastrian community in Southern California through hands-on fieldwork, interviews, and community visits — sharpening critical, analytical, and ethnographic skills in a living religious context.

Dates: December 14-18, 2026       Venue: Jordan Center, Humanities Gateway Room (HG 1341)

Deadline for applications is September 15^th, 2026.

For more information, please contact: cereti@uci.edu

To apply, please fill out the following Google form: Application Form

* Please note that this workshop is free and open to all, but space is limited and registration is required. You will be notified by October 30. Meeting travel requirements, board and lodging are the responsibility of applicants.

*This workshop is co-sponsored by UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies, SOAS, University of Toronto, University of Sapienza, and UCI Classics Department.

Why Zoroastrianism?

Founded by the prophet Zoroaster approximately 3,000 years ago in ancient Iran, Zoroastrianism is widely regarded as the world's oldest monotheistic religion. Its central teaching — the worship of one supreme God, Ahura Mazda, and the cosmic struggle between truth (Asha) and falsehood (Druj) — profoundly influenced the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Zoroastrianism introduced concepts such as heaven and hell, final judgement, and the messianic figure that reverberate across Western and Eastern thought to this day.

A Living Faith: The Modern Zoroastrian Community

Despite numbering only around 150,000 worldwide, the Zoroastrian community has exerted a remarkable influence disproportionate to its size. The Parsi community of the Indian subcontinent — descendants of Zoroastrians who fled persecution in Persia in the 7th century and settled first along India's western coast — became one of South Asia's most distinguished minorities, renowned for philanthropy, industry, and education. Iconic figures such as Freddie Mercury, Zubin Mehta, and the founders of the Tata Group are testament to this extraordinary heritage.

Mobility has always been central to the Zoroastrian story. Successive waves of migration carried the community from ancient Persia to India, then onward to East Africa, Britain, and North America. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, a new diaspora established thriving communities in Los Angeles, Toronto, and London. Today, approximately 25,000 Zoroastrians live in North America and Europe. Southern California is home to one of the most vibrant of these communities, making it an ideal setting for the Winter School's fieldwork component.

Despite challenges around conversion, interfaith marriage, and demographic decline, the community remains culturally vital. Festivals such as Nowruz (the Persian New Year) and Mehregan continue to be celebrated globally, and a new generation of scholars and practitioners is actively debating how to carry the tradition forward into the 21st century.

December 14-18	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:00-9:30	T. Daryaee
9:30-10:50	E. Raffaelli	E. Raffaelli	Z. Bhandara	M. Vassalli	Presentations
11:00-12:20	C. G. Cereti	C. G. Cereti	M. Vassalli	Z. Bhandara	Presentations
12:30-2:00pm	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break
2:00-5:00	M. Errichiello & C. Insom Workshop	M. Errichiello & C. Insom Workshop	M. Errichiello & C. Insom Community Interviews	M. Errichiello & C. Insom Community Interviews	Closing Session & Reception

Classes

Beyond Continuity: The Historical Making of Zoroastrian Eschatology

Teacher: Prof. Enrico Raffaelli (University of Toronto)

Some past scholarship has tended to overemphasize the continuity of the Zoroastrian eschatological doctrinal corpus from the Old Avestan texts to the Pahlavi books. This session shows how a close internal analysis of the Avestan corpus already reveals significant developments in both individual and universal eschatology: in the Young Avestan texts, some details found in the Old Avesta disappear, and enduring core concepts coexist with new ideas. When the Pahlavi sources are added, the picture becomes even more dynamic. Alongside clear continuities with Avestan traditions, we encounter new elaborations shaped by centuries of imperial expansion and intercultural exchange, with Elamites and Egyptians first, and with the classical civilization, Jewish, and Christian communities later. Zoroastrian eschatology thus emerges not as static inheritance, but as a historically responsive and evolving intellectual tradition.

Date and Hours: Monday, 9:30–10:50.

Sacred Skies: Astral Sciences and Religious Thought in Zoroastrianism

Teacher: Prof. Enrico Raffaelli (University of Toronto)

From at least the Sasanian period onward, astral sciences became deeply embedded in Zoroastrian religious thought. Astronomical and astrological doctrines were not merely technical imports, but were woven into cosmology, and in the views on cosmic history. This session examines how Zoroastrian religious authors integrated astral knowledge into theological frameworks while engaging successive cultural and religious environments. Early developments reflect dialogue with classical and Indian traditions; in the Islamic period, Zoroastrian scholars participated in the wider Islamicate religious-scientific discourse. Yet these interactions did not result in passive adoption. Astral concepts were reinterpreted within Zoroastrian doctrinal structures, demonstrating a tradition that negotiated external knowledge while reshaping it in accordance with its own religious commitments.

Date and Hours: Tuesday, 9:30–10:50.

Zoroastrianism and the Making of the Persian Language

Teacher: Prof. Carlo G. Cereti (University of California, Irvine)

This session will examine the role of the Zoroastrian church in establishing Persian as the national language of the Sasanian Empire. Middle Persian was the Zoroastrian church language, as shown by Kerdir’s inscriptions as well as by the new graffiti that were recently discovered in Fire Temples near Kashan and Birjand. It was also the language of the Zand, the extensive Sasanian exegesis of the Avesta.  The use of Middle Persian in all religious contexts as well as in areas such as Birjand, where one would expect Parthian, shows that by the end of the Sasanian Empire, followers of the Good Religion were expected to read and write in Middle Persian, at least in religious contexts. The language of the Zoroastrians became the national language of Iran.

Date and Hours: Monday, 11:00–12:20.

Zoroastrian “Migration” from Iran to India

Teacher: Prof. Carlo G. Cereti (University of California, Irvine)

Sasanian trading posts were present in the Indian subcontinent already in pre-Islamic times. Zoroastrians established thriving commercial communities in Gujarat as well as in Keral, and probably Sri Larna. In later times, these enclaves hosted those who had left Iran to preserve their religious beliefs. Starting with the Qesse-ye Sanjān and the Qesse-ye Zardoštiyān this lecture will analyze the earliest evidence for the presence of Zoroastrian communities on Indian soil, arguing that the narrative on migration disguises the presence of earlier mercantile communities. This is not to negate an increase in migration after the Islamic conquest of Iran, rather it is meant to set the phenomenon in a wider perspective. 

Date and Hours: Tuesday, 11:00–12:20.

Prelude to Migration: The Early Encounters Between Bombay’s Parsi Community and the Americans in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Teacher: Dr Massimiliano Vassalli (Sapienza University of Rome)

The first contact between the Parsis and the American continent occurred as early as 1771, a few years before the United States Declaration of Independence. Throughout the nineteenth century, Parsis from Bombay maintained trade relations with the newly formed nation; however, migration to the Americas generally involved only individual families during the first half of the twentieth century. This lecture traces the evolution of Zoroastrian-American contacts from their earliest encounter to the early twentieth century.

Date and Hours: Wednesday, 11:00–12:20.

Education and the Zoroastrian Identity in the Nineteenth Century

Teacher: Dr Massimiliano Vassalli (Sapienza University of Rome)

The Reverend John Wilson disrupted the traditional policy of religious tolerance that had governed Bombay since its cession to the English by the Portuguese. He devised a threefold strategy to convert Indian Zoroastrians but encountered fierce resistance from the community. The most significant consequence, however, was a profound transformation of Parsi life, with education emerging as a double-edged force: it provided access to influence and prosperity yet also held the power to reshape – and even undermine – religious identity. This session examines how education became central to Parsi culture, moulding the figure of the "Pious Citizen:" a model defined by economic acumen and civic responsibility.

Date and Hours: Thursday, 9:30–10:50.

Zoroastrians in North America: Education, Career, and Religious Authority

Teacher: Dr Zerkxis Bhandara (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Zoroastrian migration to North America in the twentieth century was largely shaped by educational and professional ambition. Students and skilled professionals settled in American cities in pursuit of stability and advancement, often leaving behind elders, extended kin networks, and established religious infrastructures. In this context, communal life was organized primarily around career and nuclear family, with religion frequently assuming a secondary role. Unlike the Indian subcontinent and Iran, North American communities did not initially develop with formally commissioned clergy. Priests who migrated were requested to serve, and others stepped into ritual roles while maintaining full professional careers. The result was a largely volunteer priesthood—responsible for sustaining liturgy and life-cycle rites, yet operating without dense institutional authority. This session examines how sacred practice, priestly service, and communal continuity were reconfigured in a setting where economic mobility structured daily life.

Date and Hours: Wednesday, 9:30–10:50.

Zoroastrian Life in California: Separate Institutions and Divergent Futures

Teacher: Dr Zerkxis Bhandara (University of California, Santa Barbara)

California offers a distinctive case within North American Zoroastrianism. Unlike smaller communities that consolidate resources, California’s sizeable Iranian and Parsi populations have developed separate associations, distinct places of worship, and parallel institutional visions. Temples and community centers function as sites where ritual practice, education, and identity are structured along different historical trajectories. This session examines how mission statements, youth programming, initiation practices, and priestly authority are articulated within these separate frameworks. While sharing a common religious inheritance, each community negotiates questions of continuity and belonging differently. Broader American currents—professional mobility, institutional pragmatism, and neoliberal modes of governance—shape these developments in varying degrees. California thus reveals how diaspora does not produce uniformity but parallel formations, where sacred space and communal direction reflect distinct memories, priorities, and aspirations for future generations.

Date and Hours: Thursday, 11:00–12:20.

Afternoon Workshop

Facilitators: Dr Mariano Errichiello (SOAS, University of London); Dr Camilla Insom (Sapienza University of Rome)

This workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of ethnographic interviewing, qualitative analysis, and public-facing storytelling. Drawing on examples from contemporary research on Zoroastrian communities, students will learn how to design effective interview questions, conduct ethical and reflexive interviews, analyse narratives through thematic and qualitative methods, and present their findings in engaging written, oral, and visual formats. Through a combination of mini-lectures, collaborative exercises, mock interviews, and creative group work, participants will gain hands-on experience in the full research process. The workshop is particularly suited to those interested in oral history, community research, anthropology, heritage, and the documentation of cultural and religious traditions. No prior experience in research methods is required.

Date and Hours: Monday to Thursday, 14:00–17:00.