CommuNIqué - Newsletter of the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland
Issue 154 - 4 Ayyam-i-Há 167 BE - 1 March 2011 CE

 

NEWS - LOCAL AND OVERSEAS

 

Two National Conventions

The National Convention is held annually during Ridván to elect the members of the National Assembly and to consult on the affairs of the Faith. Normally the UK Convention and the Convention in the Republic of Ireland coincide but this year the two conventions were held on different weekends enabling a few people from Northern Ireland to attend the convention in Bray as well as the normal attendance of delegates and friends from Northern Ireland to the UK National Convention.

The two conventions are quite different. In the UK there are 95 delegates some of whom travelled very long distances. This year, in addition to the delegates there were some 800 Bahá'ís who observed the proceedings. In contrast in Bray there were 38 delegates and about 50 observers. The difference in scale necessitates a very different approach to the chairing of the consultation. Although the physical arrangements of the conventions are very different the themes that were discussed were remarkably similar. In both conventions the delegates focussed on recent messages from the Universal House of Justice. Many delegates drew on their experiences of intensive programmes of growth. The delegates in Bray discussed many issues that were emerging from recent experiences in Stan Wrout (Limerick), Ninth Star (Waterford) and Maud Bennett (Cork) clusters where there has been impressive development, while delegates in Nottingham discussed their experiences in the 28 clusters across the UK that have intensive programmes of growth. In both conventions it was impressive how frequently delegates quoted from the 28th December letter as well as the 2010 Ridván letter. Both conventions also made frequent references to the coming centenary of the visit of Abdu’lBahá to the British Isles.

In both the UK and Ireland it is clear that one of the greatest areas of learning and development is in relation to junior youth empowerment. In Nottingham the delegates asked the full time junior youth coordinator to address the convention and in Bray the junior youth resource person was called upon. Both gave very inspiring accounts of the development of the junior youth empowerment programme.


COMMUNITY CELEBRATIONS

The spring is a busy time for Bahá'í communities with the celebrations of AyyamiHá, NawRuz and Ridván. While all communities have organised various celebrations there are perhaps three that merit particular mention – North Down, Newtownabbey, and Belfast.

AyyamiHá

North Down had a major celebration of AyyamiHá. It is perhaps best described in the words of two elected representatives who were present and recorded their views for “You Unite” internet radio.

Brian Wilson, Green Party MLA for North Down: “Very interesting, very stimulating, very emotional. I normally go to the Baha’i things, because basically it expresses my view on the whole thing, that for about 30 to 40 years I have been working with politicians basically to get inclusiveness to bring people together to forget our differences and basically our society, our divided society, we’ve got to try and bring it together and I think the Baha’i Faith actually expresses that extremely well. We are all one, we have to look after each other, we have to look after the planet, that is my concern and basically as I say I can feel sympathy with that and feel emotionally involved in tonight. Just to hear for example the Koran and the basis of the Jewish religion and we’re talking about all the religions talking about the same thing and this is reflected this evening. It was most enjoyable and most stimulating.

” Councillor John Montgomery, Mayor of North Down: “This is a very special event, it shows the diverse culture that we have here in North Down and it is something that I feel within my own feelings that North Down is one people and although there are different cultures here I feel that we are equal and I don’t differentiate in any way between the different cultures and religions within the Borough. I think it is good to illustrate to someone like myself who has limited knowledge of other faiths and cultures, because traditionally in Northern Ireland we have two faiths albeit they are almost identical, but here we have a different approach and it gives me an idea of how I can see and learn from it and learn the different cultures, learn the different ways that they behave and I am very honoured to be here to do that.” Page

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Newtownabbey Naw Rúz Party

Naw Rúz was celebrated with gusto in Newtownabbey at a party on Sunday 20th March in Merville House for about a hundred people. The party, which included numerous members of the local Iranian community, as well as local people, was opened by the Deputy Mayor, Alderman Tommy Kirkham. Pat Irvine spoke next on the significance of Naw Rúz. There was then a short musical devotional. A break for refreshments was followed by entertainment, including a Baha’i singing group, a Ghanaian drummer, African songs and Irish dancing. Our loyalist deputy Mayor and his wife joined in enthusiastically and danced ‘The Waves of Tory’. While the grownups were being thus entertained, about 15 children attended a children’s class organised by Mahvash Graham and Soha. The party was reported in the local newspaper with a fullpage spread. The Bahá'í community of Newtownabbey would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of the party with organisation, financial contribution, musical presentations, serving tea and clearing up, etc

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Ridván

Some very different events were organised by Belfast Spiritual Assembly to mark the Holy Days during Ridván. Here one of the organisers describes the programme: Ridván was called the 'King of Festivals' by Bahá'u'lláh and this year Belfast Baha'i Community decided to try and make our celebrations live up to this title.

To open this festival a celebration devotional was created by some of the believers to uplift the community and inspire them to carry the spirit of Ridván throughout the entire twelve days. The programme was devised and rehearsed over a couple of days so that it would be of the highest quality for this auspicious occasion. The room was decorated with tall vases of fragrant white roses and eucalyptus leaves, dozens of tea lights sparkled in the fading light of dusk and the friends were offered cardamom spiced sweet black tea as they took their seats all while listening to evocative Persian music. We were told stories of Baha'u'llah's time in Baghdad, interspersed with and accompanied by haunting and at times joyously sung prayers and Hidden Words. Rose water was sprinkled into hands and petals given as mementos just as Baha'u'llah would have done when with the early believers. At the close we served cake to match the spiritual sweetness with which we had nourished our souls.

The next big date in the calendar was the ninth day of Ridván for which Belfast had organised a party open to the entire Northern Lights Cluster. Again we decorated our venue, this time the Belfast Boat Club with roses, tea lights and fairy lights to reflect Baha'u'llah's time in the garden of Ridván. We had top notch entertainment from clowning sensation Jitterbug Jackson and master magician George Bleaks as well as a few floor filling tunes from DJ David Quinn. Although we were a small group (those of you who missed it, missed out!) we laughed lots, ate lots and did a lot of shape throwing on the dance floor. A great night out was had by all and we are sure to build on this for next year. We had a picnic for the twelfth day celebration. Looking forward to seeing you there next year!


CHANGES IN THE COMMUNITY

We welcome...

Mr Aidan Kitson, Crossmaglen who has declared his Ffaith and enrolled in the Bahá·í community

We note with sadness...

Mrs Sarvar Zaray, passed away on 12th March 2011, Mr Jimmy McGilligan, OBE passed away on 21st April 2011, following a road traffic accident in India.

 

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