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Zoroastrianism in suburban Chicago
Zoroastrianism is a pre-Islamic religion founded in Persia (today’s Iran) that some scholars believe influenced the beliefs of modern day Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Globally, the Zoroastrian community is estimated to be less than 200,000 worldwide, with the majority of practitioners in Iran and India.
There is a small Zoroastrian community in the Chicago suburbs, who allowed me to photograph their annual service for the dead in which sandalwood sticks are burned in a large urn. With their numbers dwindling, some Zoroastrians are considering marriages outside the faith in the hopes that any children from the marriages will be raised in the religion.