LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.06 (04) [E]

Wed May 7 00:22:21 UTC 2008

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L O W L A N D S - L - 06 May 2008 - Volume 06
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From: Andy Eagle <andy at scots-online.org>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.06 (01) [E]

Dear Heather,
>
> you wrote:
>
>  And we also use the stork image as baby deliverer on cards etc even tho'
> >
> storks do not favour > England with their presence - except perhaps
> occasionally in East Anglia??? or am I imagining > that.
>
> You're quite right- storks normally do not brood on the British islands.
> That's interesting, and I wonder why.
> [Perhaps they have done so before 1066, but then probably the population
> of
> frogs got decimated ;-)...]
>

Apparently storks did once breed in the British Isles, and may be doing so
again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/3653171.stm

Andy

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From: Mike Morgan <mwmosaka at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.06 (01) [E]

R/R wrote:

> Mike, I've been told that most Zoroastrians now practice burial and
> cremation,

Which of course is to say (true, enough) that (like most Christians
perhasp?) most Parsis are not really fully practicing Parsis.
Cremation woudl be a BIG no-no for an "orthodox" Parsi.

> that only a few Parsis still practice the old tradition.

Only holidays (like Parsi new years a month ago) still seem to be
celebrated "traditionally". And I am not sure how much of the "old
tradition" is even kept in that. (Most of Ishara's trustees (2 out of
3) and most of our donors (at leats the direct non-corporate donors)
are Parsi. But none of them that I know are very traditional ... in
fact, they tend to be the most Westernized of Mumbaikars.)

> Birds
> are not considered necessary, though expedient

No, but I have heard that the non-Parsis in the neighborhood of Towers
of Silence have started complaining about the increased amount of time
(and therefore the increased period of rot) that it takes for a body
(when some one is in fact exposed in that way) to decompose without
the help of the birds. There has even been talk of banning the
practice 8though in a Parsi stronhold like Bombay I don't see THAT as
happneing ... not till the more traditional generations pass on
(however they are disposed of).

> (I know. Tibetan script still needs work in Unicode fonts. I have
> Tibetan-specific fonts that stack just beautifully and automatically.)

yes, i have Tibetan-specific fonts that stack nicely too ... but they
aren't set as default for my gmail account! (as do several OTHER Asian
scripts, Bangla for one)

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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
 Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.06 (01) [E]

Mike Morgan <mwmosaka at gmail.com  wrote about the Towers of Silence

and the tradition of exposing the dead.

In fact, Mike, according to reports in the papers over here,  the problem is
really dire.

The vultures over the last 2 decaades have been dying off at an alarming
rate because they are also feasting on dead cattle, which have been dosed
with ... and here my unscientific memory fails me .... but some drugs
recommended to Indian farmers to improve the health of their cattle. I think
artificial fertilisers also come into the picture: the farmers use chemical
fertilisers, the grass /crops store it, the cattle eat the grass/crops and
also store it; they die and the vultures strip the carcase and increasingly
build up fatal doses of chemicals which have been killing them off.

At first it was thought that the fact of suburban growth reaching the
usually isolated  Towers of Silence was driving the birds away. Then the
problem with the non-removal of dead cattle /animals in the countryside got
to a point when research was needed. The carcases of the dead vultures
proved the point that they are being killed by agricultural chemicals. India
banned the said chemicals some years ago as soon as the cause was clear -
but as with DDT -  if you have it and it works, you use it.

Numbers of vultures are so low  that zoos have started breeding programmes
to put them back into the wild.

The great sadness of this whole story is the disastrous and uncalculated
effects of 'modernising' farming methods around the world. Teaching the 3rd
world to rely on artificial fertilisers instead of natural dung has set off
a downward spiral which results in poorer land, need for even more
fertlisers and a "Silent Spring" of global proportions.

I am sure it's not just the vultures that are feeling the effect of chemical
additives to farming.

Here's hoping that you do soon see your first vulture...... and that the
Parsi can resume their ancient tradition.

best wishes

Heather

•

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