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Close to 400 souls braved the snow and the cold to attend this year’s World Religion Day Celebration held at the All saints Cathedral in Halifax this weekend.

The program opened with the Baha’i Army of Light Dance Troupe who combined dance and rhythm with readings from the Words of Baha’u’llah.

Kitpu Mi’kmaq Youth Drummers and Dancers then held a Smudge ceremony with an elder, followed by drumming.

The Beechville Babes, a dance troupe of children and youth from Beechville Baptist Church, performed an interpretive dance, accompanied by the Church’s choir, Beechville Worship Warriors.

They were followed by readings from the Bible by a minister of The Cathedral of All Saints Anglican Church and readings from Hindu Scriptures by a member of the Vedanta Ashram Society.

The rousing gospel songs of the special musical guest, the Nova Gospel Ensemble, had the audience clapping, singing and dancing.

A Bible story was dramatized by members of Saint Matthew’s United Church and there were songs by choirs from the Halifax Shambhala Centre and the Universalist Unitarian Church. A drama perfomed by Brahma Kumaris members depicted the soul returning to its true nature.

The Leblanc family of the Baha’i community sang a prayer by the Bab, “Say God Sufficeth”. The traditional finalé garnered singers from the Baha’i, Shambhala, Unitarian and Saint Matthew’s communities performing a song selected especially for World Religion Day called “Can You Hear” by composer Jim Papoulis.

The Mayor and Councilors of the Halifax Regional Municipality issued a proclamation that January 18th was World Religion Day in HRM and they sent a representative, Councilor Jennifer Watts, who spoke to the audience and participants at the start of the program.

The visual arts were also incorporated into the program. During the Celebration, artist Sharon Hodgson created a painting of the event and sculptor Rhiannon Wyatt created a sculpture in clay that was based on the event.

Check it all out by going to World Religion Day. http://worldreligionday.ca

The enclosed tips are based on a workshop held in Halifax by Ryan Lash. Ryan has spent the last year photographing 30 different clusters in countries across the world at the request of the Universal House of Justice.

1. An Establishing Shot: This shows the location of the activity and roughly how many people were there to document what was happening.

The Establishing Shot

2. Action Shot: Most often it is interaction between two or more people.
Children’s Class & Jr. youth – shots of them colouring; playing games; studying or singing/dancing.
Devotional meetings – Convey sense of reverence; someone with a prayer book; head bowed down in prayer or group of people looking on.

The Action Shot

3. Detail Shot: They may not be used very often, but they are valuable things to have such as people writing in their Ruhi book; pile of crayons and colouring sheet; pictures of close-up of hands on prayer book.

The Detail Shot

4. The 5 W’s -Who, What, Where, When & Why: Who attended; What notable things may have happened whether it be the history of the activity or a funny/exciting occurrence that may have happened; Where it was held address & town; The Date & Time of the activity. One simple thing to do if you are shooting digital is to actually take a picture of those notes and keep them all together.

Regarding permission: If the photos are to be kept within the community, most times a verbal agreement is adequate if everyone agrees to having photos taken.
In Canada you need written permission from those attending any minors under 14 years of age need parents signature. It is normally not an issue, in Ryan’s experience, it is the Baha’is who have the most difficulty with this issue, most others don’t mind. It is best to be prepared.

Ryan’s Blog can be found at: http://www.bahaiblog.net/

Short video of Ryan’s Workshop while in Halifax, NS.

Act 1 dramatizes the Mysterious Springtime of 1844 and how it was popularly believed by many scientists that science had reached the end of the road as
far as new inventions were concerned. Many leaders were predicting the return of Christ in the 1840s. The story made the headlines in the United States, Europe, China, and the Middle East.

It was a time of great expectation and curiosity that spurred ingenuity, exploration and faith. Watch how the young cast of BNN report it a century and a half ago….

Act 2 questions: Is it the Advent? or Is it the End of Days? Depending on who you asked, whether it be in North America, Asia, Australia, Africa… where ever… it was one extreme or the other. People throughout the world were advised to prepare for the sudden appearance of Christ, whose ‘coming’ promised to be heaven on earth or the wrath of God. Others were selling off their homes, preparing their final resting place and saying good bye to family and friends, anticipating the End of the World.

One group among the millennial scholars of the 1844 period was so certain that the ‘Glory of God’ would appear on the side of Mount Carmel, as foretold by Isaiah, that they sold all they owned and sailed for the Holy Land.

Act 3 follows the path of one young man by the name of Mullá Husayn who was so certain that the Promised Day had come and believed so strong in what he had learned from his teacher of the Qur’án, Siyyid Kázim, that in January 1844 he set out with his companions drawn as if by a magnet to the north, and so he moved on to Shíráz. As he reached the gate of the city if Shíráz, he sent his two companions ahead to a certain mosque telling them to stay there until he joined them later.
“God willing,” he said, “I will join you there for the evening prayer.”

Happy Ridvan!

As I tote my cameras to various places and events, many people often ask where many of the images can be found. As much as I’d like to have all the photos in a gallery; time and resources have hindered such an endeavor. But, at a recent event held at the St. Mary’s Boat Club in Halifax I did take many photos & video footage at the Baha’i Community’s Ridvan Celebration. I’ve compiled a collage of images, audio, and video that can be viewed online.

Quotation of Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings XCVI

Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 195

The Pen of the Most High is unceasingly calling; and yet, how few are those that have inclined their ear to its voice! The dwellers of the kingdom of names have busied themselves with the gay livery of the world, forgetful that every man that hath eyes to perceive and ears to hear cannot but readily recognize how evanescent are its colors.

A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth; and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive. Consider the peoples of the West. Witness how, in their pursuit of that which is vain and trivial, they have sacrificed, and are still sacrificing, countless lives for the sake of its establishment and promotion. The peoples of Persia, on the other hand, though the repository of a perspicuous and luminous Revelation, the glory of whose loftiness and renown hath encompassed the whole earth, are dispirited and sunk in deep lethargy.

O friends! Be not careless of the virtues with which ye have been endowed, neither be neglectful of your high destiny. Suffer not your labors to be wasted through the vain imaginations which certain hearts have devised.

Ye are the stars of the heaven of understanding, the breeze that stirreth at the break of day, the soft-flowing waters upon which must depend the very life of all men,

the letters inscribed upon His sacred scroll. With the utmost unity, and in a spirit of perfect fellowship, exert yourselves, that ye may be enabled to achieve that which beseemeth this Day of God. Verily I say, strife and dissension, and whatsoever the mind of man abhorreth are entirely unworthy of his station. Center your energies in the propagation of the Faith of God. Whoso is worthy of so high a calling, let him arise and promote it. Whoso is unable, it is his duty to appoint him who will, in his stead, proclaim this Revelation, whose power hath caused the foundations of the mightiest structures to quake, every mountain to be crushed into dust, and every soul to be dumbfounded. Should the greatness of this Day be revealed in its fullness, every man would forsake a myriad lives in his longing to partake, though it be for one moment, of its great glory – how much more this world and its corruptible treasures!

Be ye guided by wisdom in all your doings, and cleave ye tenaciously unto it. Please God ye may all be strengthened to carry out that which is the Will of God, and may be graciously assisted to appreciate the rank conferred upon such of His loved ones as have arisen to serve Him and magnify His name. Upon them be the glory of God, the glory of all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth, and the glory of the inmates of the most exalted Paradise, the heaven of heavens.

Lyrics to Matador, written by Gordi Munro

MATADOR

(© Gordi Munro, Steve Farrel, Album: Unity in Diversity)

Don’t you worry ’bout a thing
Despair is coming to an end
He has come again and the sword of glory has been thrust
No need to hesitate, let us cheer on with the crowd
There was once a time when the bulls were running free
Through blatant city streets which knew no harmony
Then came the Matador inspired by our need
Dressed in swords from Heaven, His purpose to bring peace

CHORUS:

Make me one, make me wonder
Make me wonder, make me one
The Matador keeps on trying
And the crowd cheers on for more
The bulls are slowly dying
Pierced by spirit swords. La la la la . . .
Sword of righteousness pierced the bull of greed
Sword of eternity bring us liberty
Come thou, the sword of love, pierce the bull of hate
These swords of discipline, humanity is made

CHORUS:

As He thrust the final sword, the crowd begins to rise
The courage of the Matador keeps their hearts alive
Dressed in His swords of truth and fire in His eyes
The crowd anticipating knows the beast will surely die

(Lyrics cited from: WINGS FOR THE SPIRIT by Diane and Bruce Rothaar)