Restoring Heritage Grains by Eli Rogosa

Author:Eli Rogosa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Published: 2016-06-30T16:45:30+00:00

Thus Planted Zarathustra

The Zoroastrian holy book Avesta recounts the legend of an Evil Killer Winter of 20,000 years ago. The Creator warned the good King Jam that a Killer Winter was approaching. All living creatures would be destroyed unless his people traveled far south. The Great Migration of the ancient Zoroastrians from their northern homeland is recounted in The Saga of the Zoroastrian Race by Porus Havewala.38 Another Zoroastrian legend retells the profound farming skills of Zarathustra:

Long ago, in the distant past, there was a great king in Iran whose name was Vishtap, with great wealth and victories to his name. One day, Vishtap was traveling through his kingdom and passed an orchard of exceptional beauty, although the land around the orchard was bare and desolate. Vishtap realized that the farmer tending the orchard must have worked with great foresight, wisdom, dedication, and diligence, since he had never seen such beauty.

Vishtap asked who was the gardener. He was told that this was the garden of Zarathustra. He invited Zarathustra to his palace to ask him deep questions of life, however, instead of sharing his secrets, Zarathustra reached into his satchel and gave the king grains of wheat, saying that the grains were his teacher. Zarathustra then excused himself, explaining his work in the orchard could not be neglected. The king was surprised by Zarathustra’s response, but wondered, perhaps the grains had magical powers? The king placed the grain securely in a gold box. Every day he opened the gold box and looked at the grain to find the answers to his questions. Every day he was none the wiser.

After months of frustration, the king visited the sage again. The king showed Zarathustra the grain in the gold box, and asked him what lesson the grain was to teach, whereupon Zarathustra asked the king what would have happened if instead of placing the grain in a gold box, the king had planted the grain so that it could receive the forces of life, food, water, and light. Together they reflected on the deep lessons they could learn from that simple act. To grow and transform, the grain was removed from the gold box and grounded in the earth. Thus the king understood that he too must step out of his comfortable surroundings, as the forces of nature would flow toward the grain to nurture its growth, so would he be nurtured by life with knowledge and understanding.39

The Zoroastrian holy book Vendidad, which is part of the Avesta, teaches, “who causes wheat to be sown, causes righteousness to be practiced.”

Ancient Persian Wheat (Triticum carthlicum)

Ancient Zoroastrian traditions are almost forgotten today, but Zarathustra taught practices to achieve a deep harmony with nature, drawing on secrets of the plant and animal kingdoms as the people farmed. They communicated with nature in seasonal festivals called gahambars as a way to express gratitude to the plants and animals. Gahambars were performed in open high places, and they sanctified relationships with the nature beings: Spenta Armaiti, who

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