Weirdly, until a few years ago, I'd only encountered Zoroastrianism in books about Alex the Great, Ancient Persia, etc. and for whatever reason figured it was an ancient religion that between the Muslims and Mongols, had died out a Millennium ago.
It was kind of a weird sensation then when someone mentioned to me that Feddie Mercury was from a Zoroastrian family. Like if I found out Jude Law had a sister that was a Vestal Virgin or something.
Indeed Freddie Mercury was a Parsi which is the term for Zoroastrian in India. It's believed they fled during the Arab conquest of Persia. I came across this article a while back on the Parsi community in India, that's a worth a read:
Yes, but that's an example of syncretism, the mixing of religious beliefs and practices. To extend the analogy to biological evolution, Yazidism is not the "missing link" between those religions, but rather an example of cross-pollination or hybridization.
It was kind of a weird sensation then when someone mentioned to me that Feddie Mercury was from a Zoroastrian family. Like if I found out Jude Law had a sister that was a Vestal Virgin or something.