Office of Education and Schools

In celebration of the bicentenary and inspired by the lives of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, the Bahá’í national schools participated in the global “outpouring of love and esteem” with programs that honored family, community and culture.

On Oct. 21, the eve of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh, Bosch Bahá’í School near Santa Cruz, California, invited friends from the community to a family-style dinner and a presentation of the film Light to the World. Participants included Morgan Rankin, editor of Battle Mountain News, the monthly local newsletter for Bonny Doon; and Peter Klotz-Chamberlain, co-founder of the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz.

Noting the film’s “beautiful message,” Klotz-Chamberlain asked, “How do Bahá’ís make this all happen?” After some conversation, he invited Allen Lu, administrator of the school, and another guest to work with him in gathering community members and facilitating a conversation about the role of spirituality and religion in social change and activism.

At Green Acre Bahá’í School in Eliot, Maine, festivities began the afternoon of Oct. 22 with a Family Celebration. Twenty children and their families, many from the wider community, came together to celebrate the life of Bahá’u’lláh through prayers, songs, arts, crafts and gardening. The program included planting of 200 daffodil bulbs, one for each year since Bahá’u’lláh’s birth.

Evening events started with a reception and an art exhibition titled “Bahá’u’lláh: Divine Source of Inspiration.” A formal event that followed brought in about 130, including members of local church congregations, Eliot’s chief of police and the principal of Eliot Elementary School. Robert Sapiro, Green Acre’s administrator, shared a proclamation by the Town of Eliot Board of Selectmen in honor of the bicentenary. Stories from the life of Bahá’u’lláh were shared, selections from Bahá’í writings were read, and a youth and children’s choir sang. Before leaving guests were given a rose, a copy of the booklet A Gift of Prayers, and an invitation to a screening of Light to the World.

In collaboration with the surrounding cluster of communities, Louhelen Bahá’í School in Davison, Michigan, created an array of celebrations Oct. 21–22 to accommodate people with varied schedules.

In the months leading to that weekend, a home visit campaign saw designated teams praying, laughing, singing and developing relationships with people in the community. In due course, formal invitations were given to these friends and to local vendors and shopkeepers.

On the bicentennial weekend, a Saturday gathering opened with prayers, music and drumming, with a screening of Light to the World as a centerpiece. With more devotions and drumming afterward, additional friends from the wider community joined and stayed late into the evening. One of the newer youths was heard to say, “Although this was their first time around Bahá’ís they felt more genuine friendship in this space than any other they had been in.”

The weekend also saw several devotionals at various times of day in localities including Davison, Flint and Grand Blanc. It culminated in a dinner in Grand Blanc with devotions and a film screening that attracted 34 friends of the Faith.

“Throughout the weekend many comments were made regarding the overwhelming feeling of love and the diversity among the friends present,” said Tahirih Merkel, Louhelen’s administrator.

Oct. 28–29, the first weekend of continuing bicentenary festivities at the Native American Bahá’í Institute in Houck, Arizona, involved about 250 total participants, including dancers, volunteers and staff.

Saturday night saw the start of an all-night devotional, as well as collaborative preparation of a large Navajo cake that was baked underground and brought out Sunday morning.

Traditional song and dance presentations drew dancers from Neah Bay, Washington; Fort Apache, Arizona; and Zuni, New Mexico; as well as singers from Klagetoh, Arizona. A highlight of the weekend was the screening of Light to the World translated into Navajo.

In the months ahead, the schools are well-positioned to offer spaces to learn about accompanying people of all ages who attended bicentennial celebrations — from intimate “elevated conversations” through helping them see themselves as protagonists of spiritual and material well-being, for themselves and their families, neighborhoods and communities.