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SHAYAST LÂ-SHAYAST.
(baresôm)' from the twig-stand (baresôm-dân), and menstruation occurs, and just as it came to one's knowledge one puts down the sacred twigs and goes out, the sacred twigs are not polluted.
Påz. writers) is a small round pancake or wafer of unleavened bread, about the size of the palm of the hand. It is made of wheaten flour and water, with a little clarified butter, and is flexible. A drôn is converted into a frasast by marking it on one side, before frying, with nine superficial cuts (in three rows of three each) made with a finger-nail while thrice repeating the words humat hûkht huvarst, well-thought, well-said, well-done,' one word to each of the nine cuts. Any drôn or frasast that is torn must not be used in any ceremony. In the drôn ceremony two drôns are placed separately by the priest upon a very low table before him, on its left side, the nearer one having a small piece of butter (gâus hudhau) upon it; two frasasts are similarly placed upon its right-hand side, the farther one having a pomegranate twig (urvarām) upon it; and between this and the farther drôn an egg is placed. The sacred twigs (baresôm) must also be present on their stand to the left of the priest, and a fire or lamp must stand opposite him, on the other side of the table. The priest recites a certain formula of consecration (chiefly Yas. III, I-VIII, 9), during which he uplifts the sacred twigs, and mentions the name of the angel, or of the guardian spirit of a deceased person, in whose honour the ceremony is performed. After consecration, pieces are broken off the drons by the officiating priest, and are eaten by himself and those present, beginning with the priests (see Haug's Essays, pp. 396, 407, 408, AV. p. 147).
The baresôm (Av. baresma) consists of a number of slender rods or tâi (Pahl. tâk), formerly twigs of some particular trees, but now thin metal wires are generally used. The number of these twigs varies according to the nature of the ceremony, but is usually from five to thirty-three. These twigs are laid upon the crescentshaped tops of two adjacent metal stands, each called a mâh-rû, moon-face,' and both together forming the baresôm-dân or twig-stand. The baresôm is prepared for the sacred rites by the recital of certain prayers by the officiating priest, during which he washes the twigs with water, and ties them together with a kQstîk or girdle formed of six thread-like ribbons split out of a leaflet of the date-palm and twisted together; this girdle, being
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