So what if the Parsi New Year ‘Pateti’ was celebrated last Saturday (August 18)? The mood in the Parsi community is still continues to be that of celebration. And as part of celebrating Pateti, the community has organised a two-day new year celebration in the city, beginning Saturday. Organised by Parsi Youth League of Ahmedabad (PYLA), an organisation that works for the benefit of Parsi youth and the community in general, the event will be held at Parsi Sanatorium at Ashram road.
With different fun-based activities and competitions, the festival has received a good response in terms of participation. Sharing some details about the proposed event, treasurer of PYLA, Cyrus Daruwalla, is expecting New Year celebrations to receive a good response, as it is being celebrated on a weekend.
On Saturday, competitions like elocution, fancy dress, housie and antakshari will be held. Similarly, on Sunday morning, the event will start with prayer competitions, treasure hunt, rangoli competition and drawing.
Interestingly, some contests are linked to Parsi culture, and will help spread awareness about it. A competition on making Rangoli and a Parsi prayer competition too have been planned. “This is the first time that we have introduced a prayer competition. For the Parsi prayer competition, priests from the fire temple of the city have been invited to judge the participants,” added Daruwalla.
Organized every year, the event brings together 150 odd Parsi families living in the city. Talking more about the event, member of Parsi Panchayat, Shirin Kanga explained, how, every year, the event is celebrated as part of the Pateti celebration. “Earlier, there used to be a week long celebration before Pateti, where special prayers for departed souls were also offered. But now, celebration depends on convenience of all and is celebrated on weekends nowadays.” According to her, while celebrations earlier had a religious connotation, today they are more of fun-based activities.
