A bundle of sacred twigs or rods used in Zoroastrian religious ceremonies, representing purification and reverence.
From Avestan 'barəsman,' the sacred plant bundle used in Zoroastrian rituals for thousands of years. The word preserves an ancient Persian religious practice dating to pre-Islamic Iran.
The barsom connects modern language to one of humanity's oldest monotheistic religions—Zoroastrianism is 3,500 years old, and this single English word carries the entire spiritual weight of an ancient Persian ceremony!
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