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Pahlavi Texts, Part II (SBE18), E.W. West, tr. [1882], at sacred-texts.com
1. The twenty-seventh question is that which you ask thus: Why and what is the ceremony of
the three nights (satûîh), when during three days they order and perform the sacred-cake ceremony (yazisnŏ drônô) of Srôsh 1?
2. The reply is this, that the life and soul, when from the realm of the spirit of air 2 they attain unto worldly attire, and have passed into its pain and misfortune, are more sensitive (nâzûktar); owing to their nurture, birth, and mission, protection and defence are more desirable and more suitable for the discreet (hû-kîragânîktar); and milk food, and renewed (navagûnak) and constant attention to the fire are requisite 3. 3. So also when they are ousted from bodily existence, and pain and the eradication of life have come upon them, they are in like manner more sensitive, and sending them protection and defence from spirits and worldly existences is more desirable. 4. And on account of their spiritual character the offering (firîstisnŏ) of gifts for the angels, fit for the ritual of a spirit (maînôk nîrangîk), is more presentable; and also a fire newly tended (nôgônd) is that which is more the custom in the sacred ceremony (yazisnŏ).
5. For the same reason in the three days when in connection with the soul the sacred ceremony, the burning of fire, its cleanly clearance (gôndisnŏ),
and other religious and ritualistic defence, feeding on milk and eating with a spoon 1 are ordered, because--as the sacred ceremony, the defence and protection of the worldly existences, is, by order of the creator, the business of Srôsh the righteous 2, and he is also one of those taking the account in the three nights 3--Srôsh the righteous gives the soul, for three days and nights, the place of the spirit of air in the world, and protection. 6. And because of the protectiveness of Srôsh, and that one is assisted likewise by Srôsh's taking the account, and for that purpose, are the manifest reasons for performing and ordering the ceremony of Srôsh for three days and nights 4.
7. And the fourth day the ordering and performing the ceremony of the righteous guardian spirit (ardâî fravardŏ) 5 are for the same soul and the remaining righteous guardian spirits of those who are and were and will be, from Gâyômard the propitious to Sôshâns the triumphant 6.
59:1 See Chap. XIV, 4.
59:2 Reading min maînôk vâyîh, and assuming that 'the good Vâê' (the Vayô of the Râm Yt.), who is often called the angel Râm, is alluded to (see Chap. XXX, 4, Sls. XI, 4, XVII, 4). The life and soul are treated as one being in this chapter, as all the verbs and pronouns referring to them are in the singular number in the Pahlavi text.
59:3 Referring to the proper care of new-born infants, for whose protection from the demons a bright fire is to be kept constantly burning for three days (See Sls. XII, r i, 12).
60:1 No meat is to be eaten by the survivors until the third night has passed away (see Sls. XVII, 2).
60:2 The angel Srôsh is said to have been the first creature who performed the sacred ceremony (see Yas. LVI, i, 2-7, ii, 2-4, iii, 2-4), of which the spiritual counterpart was produced by Aûharmazd during the creation (see Bd. II, 9).
60:3 See Chap. XIV, 4.
60:4 See Sls. XVII, 3.
60:5 See Sls. XVII, 5.
60:6 That is, from the first man to the last; the phrase is quoted from Yas. XXVI, 33.