The Chief Act of Worship

The Yasna ("worship, sacrifice") is at once the central act of Zoroastrian ritual and the book of that ritual: seventy-two chapters (ha) recited by the priests in the course of the principal act of worship, the yasna ceremony, in which the sacred plant haoma is pressed and offered before the fire. Structurally the Yasna is the heart of the Avesta, and it is the setting that has preserved the tradition's most precious material: the ancient Gathas of Zarathushtra and the archaic Yasna Haptanghaiti are enclosed within it, framed and protected by the surrounding liturgy. Its number is woven into Zoroastrian symbolism: the sacred cord (kusti) that every initiated Zoroastrian wears is traditionally made of seventy-two threads, one for each chapter of the Yasna. As the master liturgy of the faith, recited in full by qualified priests, the Yasna is where Zoroastrian scripture is not merely read but performed, the words carried within the daily and festival worship of the community.