MAGIANSPersonal cult acts included liquid offerings to water and food of-
ferings of thin, round, unleavened wheat cakes (M.P. dron), both of
which Hazaroe is said to have made in about 600.7^8 The feast given
by the brother of Mahanosh for his Magian friends in Margha in the
early seventh century, in which he tried to cut a pomegranate with his
knife, is probably an example of the myazd feast which followed the
dron ceremony.79
Such rituals were the heritage of an ancient priestly order. One of
the consequences of the establishment of Magianism under the Sa-
sanians was the spread of priestly customs among members of the
ruling group who were not priests down to the level of the dahaqtn.
The fact that members of noble families wore the sacred cord (M.P.
kusti)80 and observed the cult in their own homes is evidence of the
incipient formation of a Magian community. Affinities to widespread
pagan cult practices such as libations and sacrifice made it easier. It
was only necessary to forgo the use of cult images and to eschew the
veneration of those deities that were ·defined as evil by Mazdaeans.
Elaborate private rituals also contributed to social differentiation for
the upper classes, since observance tended to decline further down the
social scale. Although the Magian cult did not include a congregational
form of worship, there was popular participation in public seasonal
feasts (M.P. gahanbars), dances, fire festivals, and in the veneration
of sacred trees.^81
Knowledge of the cult and liturgy was provided through religious
education, which included the women and children of the upper classes.
The importance of giving women religious education is pointed out
in the Arta Wraf Namak, which contains an instructive tale about a
man who went to Heaven but whose wife was dragged down to Hell
for demon worship. When she reproached him for not teaching her
the duties and good works that he had practiced, he was ashamed and
disgraced. Within priestly families religious knowledge was passed
creatures, unite with them during their lifetime, and depart at death (Casartelli, Phi-
losophy, p. 86). Only good and virtuous people died during these days (Seher, "Histoire
nestorienne," II [1], p. 169).
78 Boyee, "Ba; and Dron," pp. 63, 299; idem, History, pp. 155-56; Hoffmann,
Persischer Miirtyrer, p. 98.
79 Chabot, "Jesus-Sabran," p. 490; Tavadia, "Sur Saxvan," pp. 15-17.
80 Boyee, History, p. 258; de Menasee, "Zoroastrian Literature," p. 548.
81 Boyee, History, p. 143; idem, "Rapithwin, No Riiz, and the Feast of Sa de," Pra-
tidanam, Indian, Iranian and Indo-European Studies Presented to F.B.]. Kuiper (The
Hague/Paris, 1968), p. 212; Hoffmann, Persischer Miirtyrer, p. 71; Tavadia, "Sur
Saxvan," p. 18.