The Birth of Baha'u'llah

 Today Baha'is around the world celebrate the Birth of Baha'u'llah, the Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith and the Promised One of all the worlds great religions. There are usually commemorations, prayers, celebrations and picnics. We missed our community's event last night because of Maryam's tummy bug. I think we might have made up for that though. The kids and I had the best Holy Day. Ever. Everything was done very last minute as we had originally planned a picnic at the park with prayers and cake and friends, but because Maryam was still not 100 percent (not vomiting, but not 100 percent) we decided to cancel.  Here is what we did instead (and I think we may have a new tradition on our hands): I got a do-it-yourself-helium-kit from Spotlight, I inflated 19 balloons (there were 30 in the pack and I let the kids inflate the extras after breakfast) and attached them to "pearls" made from scrapbooking paper.

I used a hole punch to cut out a heart shape and used contrasting paper as a backdrop.

 I printed out 19 short quotes from Baha'u'llah, cut them out, rolled them up and tucked one inside each little heart pocket. When the kids woke up the first thing they saw was a room was filled with helium balloons.

  Instead of our traditional morning prayers I explained that because today was such a special day we were doing something a little different and that part of Baha'u'llah's mission was to give us words to live by, 'pearls of wisdom' if you will. I showed the kids the pearls on the end of each balloon and said that in the heart of each pearl lies some of  His (Baha'u'llah's) teachings, some of the wisdom that He has given us to help guide our lives. The kids then took turns reading aloud these pearls of wisdom.

Here are a few of my favourites:

“Dedicate the precious days of your lives to the betterment of the world”   ~Baha'u'llah

Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches.”  ~Baha'u'llah

“The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds”  ~Baha'u'llah
 

“Be patient under all conditions and place your whole trust and confidence in God.” ~Baha'u'llah
 

“The country is the world of the soul, the city is the world of bodies.”  ~Baha'u'llah
 

“Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.”  ~Baha'u'llah (Yeah, I made sure Anisa read that one.)

 

“A thankful person is thankful under all circumstances. A complaining soul complains even in paradise.”  ~Baha'u'llah (I love that.)

 

“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility.”    ~Baha'u'llah  (This one I divided into three.)

We brought the balloons with us to the dining room to enjoy a festive breakfast. And then got to work on the big plan for the day. Random Acts of Service for Baha'u'llah. This is based on something that a Baha'i blogger drew my attention to a couple of months ago (thanks Leanna) I think it is a brilliant idea and thought it might be a nice way to commemorate Baha'u'llah's birthday. While the kids ate I began reading them the book Not Every Sea Hath Pearls and was pleasantly surprised by how well a certain individual listed and clued in to the chapter. We then talked about what ways we might be able to offer service on behalf of Baha'u'llah in honor of His birthday, Ruhi compiled a list and here is what we did.

1). The kids unanimously decided that we should donate all of the balloons to the hospital. They quickly changed our pearls into Get well soon or I hope you're feeling better tags. These were distributed to sick kids in the pediatric ward.

While Ruhi and Anisa were busy making cards and paper flowers Bayan took control in the kitchen. 2). We made a chocolate cake to take to the nurses who are doing such a super job looking after all of those sick kids as well as a Thank You card to articulate what we were doing and why.

3). Anisa wanted to donate her Indian flowers to the play centre at the hospital to brighten things up a bit, so we  took those in too.

4). Bayan also helped bake chocolate chip cookies to take to the local police station as a thank you to the police officers who help keep our community safe. This too included a written Thank You card explaining the importance of today.

5). While we were there the children each donated a stuffed animal to be given to the interrogation room so that kids who have to be there can have something soft and cuddly to hold onto.

6). We took paper flowers and  hand crafted cards to a lovely lady in our community who is very sick with cancer. We left these on her doorstep as I wasn't taking any chances with Maryam getting near her. A tummy bug, of any sort, is the last thing she needs right now.

7). We stopped by the cemetery to say prayers and bring flowers for sweet Sachi (a beautiful Baha'i girl whose love for Baha'ullah inspired countless people during her 2 year battle with leukemia) as well as some other friends who are buried there and the kids took it upon themselves to tidy up other graves as well, picking up flowers that had fallen over and ornaments knocked down by the wind.

8). We stopped by the library to donate a couple of Baha'i books, including the Kitab-i-Igan (The Book of Certitude).

9). Baha'u'llah was also known as The Father of the Poor so we donated two bags of stuff: clothes, games, books, etc. to the Salvation Army charity bins.

10). We took a basket of fruit and veg. to an elderly couple that doesn't get out much and stayed for a visit.

11). We bought  a photo album for someone who had been embarrassed to show the children their photos because they were kept in a shoebox instead of an album.

Baha'u'llah loved animals and we had hoped to make it to the animal shelter as well, but we ran out of time. Maybe tomorrow.


Over dinner Bayan asked what my best moment of the day was. I love that because I used to always ask them that question and I haven't done it in a while. I love that he remembered. While we ate we talked about some of the highlights, like seeing the appreciation on the nurses faces when they saw all the balloons and read the little tags for the kids, the huge smile that spread across one police officer's face when he saw that big plate of cookies come into the precinct, the gushing gratitude over a simple photo album and watching Maryam give Sachi's photo a kiss. I hope that's not creepy. The kids had just finished singing some prayers and her spontaneous kiss just seemed super endearing.

We ended the meal on a sweet note with ice cream and cake and are wishing everyone a perfectly wonderful Birth of Baha'u'llah.

Fighting through pictures

In the Mansion of Bahji (the Baha'i Holy place in Isreal where Baha'u'llah is buried) there is a wall, and on this wall is a single photo of someone who opposed the Faith and sought to bring about as much hardship and suffering as he could. (I forget exactly who - there were a few - and I like that I forget. It seems fitting somehow. That future generations will not remember these men, but will worship and revere Those whom these men exiled and banished and killed. Serves them right.) While opposite the photo is a wall lined with pictures of Spiritual Assemblies and Houses of worship (I hope I am remembering this right). I believe it was Shoghi Effendi (Baha'u'llah's grandson and Guardian of the Baha'i Faith) who said something to the effect that we may not be able to fight our enemies with swords and violence but we can fight them with photos and pictures. I love that. I love that this man who sought to destroy a young Faith and it's followers is condemned to stare eternally at what he failed to achieve. (Serves him right.)Likewise I love the way that the shrine of the Bab is lit up every night in recognition of the time that He was imprisoned and denied even a candle. This too is a fight, a wordless protest of cruel injustice. In honor of the Bab we made some candles of our own. To commemorate His death we remembered His life and had stories and dinner by candlelight. While we were making candles we talked about what it must have been like in prison and Anisa got all offended when she heard that the guards would not even allow Him to have a single candle. " Well," she huffed "I would have given Him one." Bless her. She cheered up considerably when she heard that His shrine is lit up each night and is so bright and so beautiful that it shines like a beacon of hope while illuminating the mountain of God. Whenever I think of that it makes me feel better too.

Holy Day

Today, for the Declaration of the Bab, we made some stained glass windows in the same style as those found in the room where the Bab declared His station to Mulla Husayn. Some are more authentic than others. We took black construction paper, traced the patterns on one side in lead pencil and then cut them out. You need to leave a decent gap between sections otherwise, as some of us learned, you can get trouble with your details and the cutting becomes much more complicated. Once you have your window cut out you cut scraps of tissue paper and glue them on to the back side. Turn your window over, display against light and the end result is rather pretty.

Ridvan party

At the last minute I got my act together and decided to hold with tradition and have our annual Ridvan get together. The kids insisted on making the world cake again this year. And who am I to refuse such fun and yummy requests, especially when they volunteer to do the icing. Ruhi did all the continents herself. Speaking of fun and yummy I did the usual garden and fresh type foods, but took it one step further and am so glad I did. On our trip to the States I remembered seeing this add for 'edible arrangements' and thought what a wonderful idea that was. The advertisement was completely gorgeous and spectacular and I would have loved to be able to do something as extravagant as their edible "flower" arrangements, sadly that was not on the cards this time round but I did get creative with our nine pointed star cookie cutters and a pineapple and am pleased with my simple results. The kids thought these rocked and had a blast helping with the grapes and strawberries. The following picture doesn't really do it justice, but it was a nice shot of the butterfly on the pitcher of juice...all part of the garden theme.

After a delicious lunch (thanks guys) the kids headed outside for a quote based treasure hunt. (I know, enough already with the hunts - but the kids were not complaining.) The girls helped cut out butterflies and I wrote a word, or two, on the wings of each butterfly. These were then 'hidden' throughout the garden, perched on tree branches, resting on rocks, etc.

The kids then had to find them. They did a pretty good job of it too.

Once the butterflies were collected they had to put the butterflies (all 18 of them) in the correct order to make the quote. As it just so happened Ruhi still remembered the quote from our earlier Ridvan treasure hunt, so she was instrumental in making sure things went in the right spot. I was super impressed by how all the kids worked together to make sure that they had it right and by how intent they all were on what they were doing. I loved seeing the older ones helping the younger ones and making sure that even the littlest ones were included.

These guys are super stars. We read the quote through a couple of times and then went inside to share the treasure...that world cake. We sang In the Garden of Ridvan...sort of, had an impromptu quiz and played some games outside.

We sent everyone home with paper flowers and chocolate lady bugs.

I am pretty sure the day was a success because Bayan is currently asking if we can do it again tomorrow.

Garden of Ridvan

We met up with some friends at a favorite garden where the roses were in bloom and the trees, well some of them, were heavily laden with fruit. We enjoyed a picnic lunch together and despite a little mishap, involving Ruhi twisting her ankle in her excitement to see everyone, we had a great time together.

We organized a little Ridvan treasure hunt for the kids. I know, I need to step it up a notch and get inspired to do something else for once. But it went pretty well. There were flowers to find and each flower contained part of a Ridvan story (for the older kids) or a number (for the younger kids). The kids then got in order to share their part of the story with everyone else. The younger ones had to guess how their number (1, 9 or 12) was important to the Ridvan Festival. The kids did a stellar job and I think they all learned from the experience. Plus it doesn't hurt that they got to share some chocolate cake at the end. That was good too.

Ridvan

Call it what you will. It's a treasure hunt. Another one. My kids are not complaining. Yet. And I just don't have the time or the inspiration to do anything else at the moment. So, once again I took a quote, this time about Ridvan, jumbled up the words placed them in colorful eggs and hid the eggs in the garden for the kids to find. They unjumbled the words until the quote made sense and then got to use the garden clippers to trim the roses and make a floral arrangement to bring inside. They only get to do this on Holy Days so despite its simplicity it was still special. But as they get older I know I'm going to have to start taking it up a notch and making it more interesting and challenging. But this year, its all about simplicity.

Birth of the Bab and Other Holy Days

We haven't been to many Baha'i functions lately. Everything seems to happen at night around 7:30 or later. This coincides with the time that I generally develop a spontaneous case of narcolepsy, especially on the days when I have been working. I feel very guilty that this fatigue is keeping the kids from certain events. So to ease my conscience slightly we organized a little celebration here at home. The kids we sent out to pick flowers in the garden, to find vases and to decorate the house with these simple things. We said prayers by candlelight, using the prayer books that the girls have made and enjoyed a small tea party with (koo-lu-cheh) stuffed Persian cookies, nabot (saffron sugar cubes) and candy-cane tea (thank you Vicki!) While the kids nibbled and sipped I read them stories about the Bab and the early years of His life.

The following afternoon I set up a special surprise for them on the table. I pruned a bush in the garden, hung some stickers from the 'branches', tucked some chocolate frogs and bubbles around the base of the pot and left a clue to a treasure hunt in a shimmering bag which was nestled in the leaves. The treasure hunt was based on the theme of finding light in the darkness, how the Bab brought light to the world, especially to the darkness of the time in which he lived. I retold the story about how The Bab was even denied a candle while he was in prison and challenged the children to find the 'lights' that were waiting for them. It took them awhile as I had hidden them in the garden shed, a place that they are normally not allowed, but eventually they worked out the clues and uncovered a packet of mini laser beam lights to share and a candle for each one of them. The bubbles weren't bad either.

This was very basic, but I think that they got something out of it. Earlier (on the Declaration of the Bab) we had done another treasure hunt of sorts.

I read them a story about the Declaration of the Bab, photocopied the story and cut it into paragraphs which I tied with ribbon.I counted out 17 green gemstones and one green star shaped stone and hid them throughout the front of the house. These gemstones were to represent the Letters of the Living (those souls that sought out and recognised The Bab before He openly declared His mission). We talked about why there were 18 stones and why only one of them was shaped like a star, while the rest were the same shape. The star represented Tahirih, the only woman in the group and the only one never to meet The Bab but to believe in Him (through a dream) nonetheless. The kids had to search for the gemstones like the Letters of the Living had to search for the Bab. We turned off all the lights and using small torches they shined their beams through the darkness searching for gemstones, clues and pieces of the story that I had read earlier. Once they had succeeded (and some parts were purposefully challenging) we turned on some lights and I let them piece the story together again. Bayan unrolled, Ruhi read and Anisa helped place them in the right order.They really enjoyed this activity and I am hoping to be able to do something similar, yet more in depth, with them next year.