A woman in black chador sits on the stair leading to the Tower of Silence (Dakhmeh), a structure used in Zoroastrian burial tradition. Yazd, Iran. Zo
A woman in black chador sits on the stair leading to the Tower of Silence (Dakhmeh), a structure used in Zoroastrian burial tradition. Yazd, Iran. Zoroastrians believe that earth, fire and water are holy elements and they avoid polluting them by burying, burning or giving their dead to the water. Instead, they place the dead bodies on top of a Tower of Silence, letting vultures to consume the corpses. In the middle of the Tower there used to be a pit called the Ostudan (Ostoodan), where the remaining bones were placed after they have been stripped of flesh. This burial practice has been banned in Iran in 1966-1967 and ever since no body was placed in a Tower of Silence.
Size: 5674px × 8510px
Location: Yazd, Iran
Photo credit: © Leonid Serebrennikov / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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