Barashnûm  Barashnûm, or Barashnûm nû shaba, is a Zoroastrian purification ritual which lasts nine nights. Because the ritual lasts nine nights, it is known as Barashnûm nû shaba or "Barashnûm of the nine nights". Also see details on the Bareshnum ceremony by a Zoroastrian senior Priest and scholar Dr Ervad Ramiyar Karanjia   Barashnûm is a Zend word meaning "top of the head". The whole ritual is named "Barashnûm" because purification starts from the head of the person, which is the first part in his body which is purified. In pre-Islamic times, Barashnûm was used to purify men and women who had been defiled by contact with dead matter and by priests before undergoing training for priesthood and certain ceremonies. However, now the Bareshnum ceremony is only undertaken by priests before their Navar and Martab training ceremonies for initiation into priesthood and before the Vendidad Nirangdin Yasna ceremonies and the one to purify men or women coming in contact with dead is discontinued   Fargard 9 of the Vendidad prescribes the requirements for the Barashnûm ritual. It prescribes that a series of six holes two feet deep if it was summer season and four feet deep if it was winter season be dug at a distance of three feet from each other and a series of three holes at a distance of nine feet from the other six. The hole at the most extreme corner should be situated at a distance of at least thirty paces from the holy fire or consecrated barsom and three paces from "clean" Zoroastrians. The holes should lie in a north-south direction and the first six are to be filled with "gōmēz" while the other three are to be filled with water. Holes 4-6 should be separated from holes 7-9 through a ring of 3 furrows arranged concentrically which act as a protective barrier. Similarly, holes 4-9 were to be separated from holes 1-3 by a barrier of 3 furrows. This arrangement is called the Barashnûm-gâh and is to be separated from cleaner pastures by an outer enclosure comprising a series of three furrows. The impure person should walk to each of the holes containing "gomez" in turn while reciting Yasna 49 of the Avesta while the Zoroastrian priest recites the same from outside the furrow surrounding the hole and sprinkles gomez upon the impure person on completion of each recitation.