CommuNIqué - Newsletter of the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland
Issue 153 - 2 Sharaf 167 BE - 1 January 2011 CE

 

NEWS FROM THE COMMUNITY

 

SHARING THE FAITH IN NORTH DOWN

The Spiritual Assembly of North Down consulted about the benefits of encouraging their Local Council to start a ‘Sharing Festivals’ initiative. It was agreed that it would be a good idea to suggest celebrating Ayyám-i-Há with the wider local community as part of such an initiative.  There was a meeting with Linda McAllister (North Down Community Development Officer), Gillian Fay ( North Down Assistant Good Relations Officer) and Una Turbitt (Ethnic Minority Development Officer for County Down). It was a very pleasant meeting and they are very keen to develop this idea with the various multicultural communities in the area.

The series of shared festivals will start with our Ayyám-i-Há celebration and the Local Council will be supporting this event.  We have been given free use of the local community centre from 5pm to 11pm on Saturday 26 February. The Local Council will also send out all the invitations on our behalf and we only have to supply a list of people we want to invite. It was suggested that we also invite our local Councillors, the Mayor, the MLAs and MPs for this event. This past year our community has been taking part in various local multicultural events and we will be inviting friends we have made in the different local community groups, as well as friends who are attending our holy days, devotional gatherings and study circles. We are aiming to invite 100 people including our own community as the venue holds around that number. We suggested that as Ayyám-i-Há is a time of sharing and hospitality for the Bahá'ís, the North Down Bahá'í community would supply tea/coffee, homebaking, fresh fruit, snacks and juice for the event. During the meeting Linda suggested that it would be good for people who come to the event to be invited to something else so that there is continuity and it is not just a one off event. She also suggested that it would be lovely for some people from the wider community to help make the decorations for the event and that they could provide a room the week prior to the event for us to meet. Though our Local Spiritual Assembly needs to consult a little more yet, we are provisionally planning a programme for the evening which will include a short talk about Ayyám-i-Há, fellowship and unity, a musical devotional which will also include readings from other faiths, an indoor treasure hunt for the young and young at heart a multicultural disco and singing. We are looking forward to brightening up the end of winter with our Ayyám-i-Há celebration.


PERSIAN MUSICAL EVENING IN NEWTOWNABBY

A special musical evening was organised to unite people together and enjoy some Persian music and stories. Some 100 friends both indigenous and Persian thoroughly enjoyed this cultural evening. Among the highlights at the cultural evening was a special award presentation made to Dr Rustam Jamshidi to thank him for his services to the community.

 

 

BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE