Celebration for Birth of Baha'u'llah

We had an interesting celebration on November 12 to make the Birth of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. Celebrations for the occasion are held all over the world every year and each countries celebrations vary according to the culture and customs but usually include some common features such has reading of Baha’i or other prayers, singing, refreshments, socializing, and such. Our celebration here in that respect it was no different in that it started with some reverent prayers, followed by a short 5 minute verbal presentation about the significance of the day, some singing, refreshments and some children’s activities mixed with socialising. But the culture differences were quite an enjoyable change from “the usual” mix we have had in Canada.

First of all, our celebration was held in a community on a nearby, small island. The island consists of a single village and is called Ifira (pronounced with the ‘e’ as in legion). It is very close-by and in fact one can walk there during low tide. Although we took a water taxi today as the tide was high. It’s a pleasant little village. It has a wonderful relaxed atmosphere since it doesn’t have the hustle and bustle of nearby Port Vila.

As with most events in Vanuatu there is a substantial amount of joyous singing often with guitar accompaniment. So today we also had lots of wonderful singing. Some of the more popular songs I am already starting to get familiar with. Including an English rendition of ‘happy birthday’ they also sang for the occasion.

Later, after we had a lunch consisting of some traditional village food and some modern local food, some agreeing more with my pallet and some less, Carren had a surprise program prepared for the children. She had brought one of our English story books called, I believe, “Song of the Nightingale”. She showed the pictures and told an impromptu version of the story in Bislama. The children really seemed to enjoy it. It was interesting to watch her explain the part of the story in which the animals are preparing for a long winter by collecting food and then taking shelter during a cold winter snow storm! Here different fruits and vegetables can be harvested all year long and of course there is no snow at all.

After the story she gave out some balloons, and had some ink and stamps for the kids to do some art work with (on some blank paper she brought). The kids seemed to enjoy it lots. Especially some of the kids who put a kitten’s paw in the ink pad and made a paw print on their page.

The event was held outside under the shade of an enormous tree (not sure what type). Then later after catching another water taxi home, as we were making our 15 minute walk along the beach back to our home it started to rain. Although here rain isn’t much of an issue since it’s always warm and one is usually just wearing shorts and a shirt anyway. So there really isn’t really much to get wet and you always dry quickly when it stops. So we just kept walking and got a little wet.

Over all an excellent day!