Ab-Zohr

The Ab-Zohr (āb-zōhr) is the culminating rite of the greater Yasna service, the principal Zoroastrian act of worship that accompanies the recitation of the Yasna liturgy.

As described in the liturgy that accompanies the procedure, the rite constitutes a symbolic offering (zohr < zaoϑra) to the waters (aban < apas) in order to purify them.

The technical terms Middle Persian ab-zohr and Avestan apé zaoϑra literally mean "offering to water" (ab, water; zohr, offering; cf Apas). The words of the expression have Indo-Iranian roots. The Parsi (Indian Zoroastrian) name for the procedure is djor-melavi (Gujarati, djor: strength, melavi: to introduce), which reflects the symbolic purpose of the "offering to water", which is to give it "strength" by purifying it (see Symbolism and Purpose, below). By metathesis 'ab-zohr' is pronounced ab-zor in the Zoroastrian Dari dialect.

The procedure is also called the parahaoma rite, reflecting the technical name of the liquid being prepared and consecrated during the ritual. In the 9th-12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition the procedure is also occasionally referred to as the hom-zohr, here also reflecting the use of the haoma plant in the rite.

The Haoma plant (Avestan, middle and modern Persian: hōm) is the source for the essential ingredient for the parahaoma (middle Persian: parahōm), the consecrated liquid that constitutes the offering (zaothra). In Zoroastrian tradition, two independent preparations of parahaoma are made for the offering.

Both preparations must be made between sunrise and noon, in the Hawan gah (Avestan: havani ratu), the "time of pressing". The time of day of the Yasna service is itself dictated by this restriction. The first parahaoma is prepared during the preliminary rites (prior to the Yasna service) in which the site of worship is consecrated. The second parahaoma preparation occurs during the middle third of the Yasna service.

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