Bahá’í News/Issue 570/Text
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| Bahá’í News | September 1978 | Bahá’í Year 135 |
the lapps in norway
The Mother Temple of India
(An architectural rendering)
| Contents |
Teaching among Norwegian Lapps |
|
The harvest is yet to come, but many seeds have been sown | 2 |
Italy: a progress report |
|
The pace of teaching and proclamation is accelerating | 6 |
A letter from the friends in Sweden |
|
As Plan nears its end, Sweden is on threshold of sacrifice | 8 |
Activities in the United States |
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Second ‘Victory Weekend’ keys drive to win goals of the Plan | 10 |
Around the world |
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News from Bahá’í communities in every corner of the globe | 12 |
Cover
For a quarter of a century, a handful of devoted individuals has determinedly carried the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to the Lapps of Norway, a people struggling to retain their identity and way of life. While the Lapps haven’t yet embraced the Faith in large numbers, inroads have been made, seeds have been planted, and there are signs that the harvest may not be far away. A report on teaching the Faith among the Norwegian Lapps begins on Page 2.
Change of address should be reported directly to Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. U.S.A. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates: one year, U.S. $8; two years, U.S. $15. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright ©1978, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Bahá’í News is published monthly for circulation among Bahá’ís only by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A.
the lapps[edit]
The Peoples of God:[edit]
Part 4[edit]
[Page 3]
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article about indigenous believers in Norway was written for Bahá’í News by Jorunn Hagan, the second Norwegian Lapp to embrace the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.)
Bahá’ís have been told that the indigenous peoples of the world will someday become spiritual leaders of the Faith. Who are these indigenous peoples? They are the original inhabitants of the nations of the world: among others, the American Indians, the Australian aborigines, and, in Norway, the Lapps.
Background[edit]
The theory that the earliest inhabitants of northern Scandinavia may have been Lapps was formulated in the 19th Century, and has gained increasingly wider acceptance.
The number of Lapps in Norway alone is estimated at 20,000, the majority of whom live in the three northernmost counties—Finmark, Troms, and Nordland—with smaller Lapp populations farther south.
The most important Lapp cultural centers in Norway are Karasjok and Kautokeino, where most of the Lapps are nomadic reindeer herders.
Traditionally, reindeer-herding Lapps have preserved the distinctiveness of the culture, which is why the term “Lapp” is to many synonymous with “reindeer-herding Lapp.”
Actually, only about one in every 10 Lapps earns his living in this way. The rest are, for the most part, farmers, fishermen, or laborers.
A great many of these people live today outside the traditional communities. The Norwegian capital, Oslo, is home to some 2,000 Lapps. Movement by Lapps to the cities has resulted in a certain degree of intermarriage with Swedes, Finns, and Norwegians, and a hybridization of the Lapp language.
Because this mixing process has been going on for several generations, there is no ready answer as to who is or is not a Lapp. Generally, a person is considered to be a Lapp if he has a Lapp ethnic background and regards himself as a Lapp, even though he may not speak the language. Some Lapps, on the other hand, have denied their heritage for fear of not being accepted by society.
Before World War II, the Lapp minority in Norway was looked down on, socially and culturally. In 1906, a writer described them as “primitive, dirty, lazy and of inferior morality,” an attitude that led a well-known Lapp artist to say that Norwegian society followed the principle of “people first, Lapps later.”
Education for Lapps was little more than Norwegianization. The Lapp language was forbidden in schools and the culture was suppressed.
The attitude in Norway toward these peoples began to change after the war, partly because the outside world focused its attention on them. This increased attention led to agreement on the spelling of Lapp words, the founding of Lapp organizations, and broadcasts in their language.
Some traces of discrimination linger on. It was not until 1965, for example, that a law was repealed that required one to speak Norwegian to be eligible to buy government land in Finmark.
While the government now demonstrates an attitude of goodwill toward the Lapps, it is impossible to say that a real and deep appreciation exists for that which is distinctively Lappish, because the Lapps have a way of life, a language, and a culture all their own.
In former times the Lapps roamed freely over vast areas from the Norwegian coast in the west, eastward through Sweden and Finland, and even into northern Russia. As national boundaries were drawn, it became more difficult for Lapps to pursue their traditional way of life—hunting, fishing, and reindeer-herding.
Roads were built in the traditional Lapp districts, many times for commercial mining or prospecting. Dams were built and power lines strung, all creating problems for the reindeer herders.
Other aspects of modern life also are eating into this community as radio, television, and wider educational opportunities tend to erode what is traditionally Lappish.
[Page 4]
In recent years, however, the interest in Lapp culture has grown stronger in Norway. The joik, a Lappish song, or way of singing, is gaining acceptance after years of being branded as sinful by missionaries. Their art and architecture likewise are experiencing periods of growth.
The cultural revival has been paralleled by the awakening of Lapps to their own ethnic identity. A more aggressive attitude can be seen among their younger politicians. This straightforwardness is not a Lapp trait and is in marked contrast to the more modest and reserved attitude of the older generation.
It is not possible at this point to say whether the Lapp culture will survive or perish. The reindeer-herding nucleus has been successful thus far in preserving the language and culture. As the central and regional authorities make decisions that determine the fate of the reindeer-herders, they will also be determining to a large extent the fate of traditional Lapp culture.
In terms of religion, most Lapps are Laestadians, followers of the brand of Christianity preached by Lars Levi Laestadius, a Lapp minister from Sweden who started a revival movement in the 19th Century in northern Scandinavia. The younger generation can hardly be said to be actively religious; nevertheless, these younger Lapps have been greatly influenced by their parents in their general religious outlook.
Bahá’í teaching among the Lapps[edit]
The story of teaching the Faith to the Lapps in Norway begins in 1953 with the arrival of Loyce Drugan Lawrence, an American pioneer, in the Lofoten Islands off the northwestern coast of Norway.
Mrs. Lawrence, a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, was accompanied by Helene Drechsler on a teaching trip to Finmark where they became acquainted with some Lapps. The date of the trip is unknown; however, the contacts made have to some extent been maintained through the years.
After 15 years as a pioneer, Mrs. Lawrence died in 1968 of cancer. Either that same year, or in 1969, the first Norwegian Lapp was enrolled in the Faith.
Her name is Olaug Borgen. She was living in the Lofoten Islands, where she learned about the Faith from Mrs. Lawrence. Mrs. Borgen says the spiritual quality of the Bahá’í prayers first attracted her to the Faith.
Mrs. Borgen’s mother was a Lapplander; her father was of Finnish/Danish descent. Her enrollment in the Faith, she recalls, caused “quite a stir” in her family.
The second Norwegian Lapp to embrace the Faith was Jorunn Hagan, who was a student in Trondheim, Norway, when she declared on March 21, 1971.
Mrs. Hagan remembers that Lappish was the first language of her mother and father, but the stigma of being “different” led them to teach their children only Norwegian. Mrs. Hagan has since made efforts to familiarize herself with her ancestral language, completing a one-year course on Lapp history and language in 1975 at the University of Oslo.
The year of her declaration, 1971, Jorunn, her husband, Holger, and another believer, Bodil Fonbeck, spent a week in the Lapp community of Kautokeino, where Mrs. Fonbeck has many Lapp friends, and held a public meeting there. Mrs. Fonbeck has lived for many years in Finmark and usually spends the Easter holidays in Kautokeino.
In August 1972, Mr. and Mrs. Hagan moved to Kautokeino, where they remained until December 1973. They were able to tell friends about the Faith, and the local school board learned of the Faith when Mr. Hagan, a teacher and a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Norway, applied for a leave of absence to attend the third Bahá’í International Convention in Haifa, Israel, in 1973.
On January 20, 1973, the most recent Lapplander to become a Bahá’í declared in Bodo. He is Gunnar Lile, who became strongly interested in the Faith because of the logical nature of its Teachings.
He says his relatives and many of his friends were unhappy with his declaration. Others of his friends were indifferent.
[Page 5]
In the summer of 1973, following a Bahá’í conference in Jokkmokk, Sweden, a team of five believers taught the Faith in the Norwegian Lapp communities of Kautokeino and Masi.
Another team of believers left the Jokkmokk conference for the Norwegian Lapp community of Karasjok where they met a Lapp who went with them to a Bahá’í conference in the Lofoten Islands and rode with them to Denmark for the Scandinavian Bahá’í Summer School.
Two years passed, and in 1975 the Swedish Lapp newspaper Samefolket featured a lengthy article on the Faith, illustrated with a photo of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
In September 1975, Hubert Schuurmann and his family, from Canada, moved to an isolated area in northern Norway near Kautokeino where their nearest neighbors were five Lapp families. The Schuurmanns remained until August 1976, when Mr. Schuurmann completed making two films for the Canadian government. His daughter, Nadine, worked for a local silversmith and made many friends.
During their stay in northern Scandinavia, the Schuurmanns visited the Lapp communities of Jokkmokk, Karasjok and Lakselv. While they were in Norway, two teams of Bahá’í teachers traveled in the area.
The first team was composed of two Bahá’ís from Oslo who visited Lapp communities following the Bahá’í International Teaching Conference in July 1976 at Helsinki, Finland.
The second of the teams was made up of Wayne Steffes and his family, American Indians most recently from California, who taught in northern Norway in July 1976. They met Lapps in Nordreisa and Kautokeino, were interviewed on a Lapp radio program, and were the subject of articles in local newspapers and one national daily paper.
Prior to these visits, an ad in Lappish and Norwegian was run in several newspapers, saying that Bahá’ís from many countries soon would be traveling through northern Norway spreading the Message of Bahá’u’lláh—that there should be unity among all peoples, regardless of national or religious background.
At the present time, only one Bahá’í pamphlet is available in the Lapp language. It was produced by the National Spiritual Assembly of Sweden and is entitled, “Oappastus Bahá’í Ap’pii,” which a prominent Lapp scholar says could be taken to mean, “Introduction to the Study of That Which Is Evil.” In Lappish the word “Baha” means “bad” or “evil,” a regrettable coincidence. The title of the pamphlet actually means, “Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith.” The National Spiritual Assembly of Norway has no plans at present to produce Bahá’í literature in Lappish.
It seems that it is necessary to live among these peoples to win their trust and friendship for the Faith.
Jan Emil von Krogh lived in Kautokeino from 1976 to 1977, moved to the Lapp community of Karasjok in April 1977, then back to Kautokeino, where he now lives.
Gunnar Lile and his wife, Noora Khosravi, a Persian pioneer from Kuwait, live in Alta, in northern Norway, where Mr. Lile is studying the Lapp language.
While in Kautokeino the Schuurmanns made many Lapp friends whom Bahá’í teachers should be able to re-contact. Teachers of Indian or Eskimo background would be most helpful in the teaching work and most welcome.
Italy[edit]
A progress report[edit]
An eight-page brochure depicting the Seat of the Universal House of Justice has been published by the Italian firm of Industria dei Marmi Vicentini. The brochure is designed to acquaint potential customers with the quality of its work in architectural marble.
In pictures and accurately-written passages, the brochure tells of the history of the Faith, the role of the Universal House of Justice, and gives some details of the design of the building itself.
The firm points out that its quarries will provide 85,000 cubic feet of “Caesar’s White” marble of Pentelikon quality, the same type of marble that was used in building the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.
The brochure also says that the Parthenon has 46 columns, each 31.5 feet high, while the Seat of the Universal House of Justice has “a peristyle of 58 columns, each 33 feet high ... decorated with magnificent entablatures and surmounted by a great dome.”
More than a million people had an opportunity recently to visit a booth at the Sardinian Trade Fair in Cagliari, Italy, sponsored by the Bahá’ís of Cagliari and Quartu S. Elena.
It was the fourth year in a row that the Faith was represented at the fair.
While posters and all available Italian-language Bahá’í literature were displayed, the item that seemed to attract the most attention was a copy of The Hidden Words in Braille. Most visitors to the fair were unfamiliar with Braille.
Nearly everyone who stopped at the booth said they had seen or heard the name “Bahá’í” prior to the fair.
Those who manned the booth reported later that teenagers, more than any other age group, appeared to show a great interest in the Faith.
Three million people visited the Trade Fair in Milan, Italy, April 14-23, at which a booth displayed literature from Bahá’í Publishing Trusts around the world. About 11,000 copies of the Fair’s catalog, in which appears a paragraph about the literature available from Bahá’í Publishing Trusts, are being distributed internationally.
The Faith was proclaimed at the 56th annual Milan Trade Fair April 14-23 in Milan, Italy, with a booth representing Bahá’í Publishing Trusts from around the world. The fair was attended by three million people.
The booth, sponsored by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust of Italy and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Milan, displayed Bahá’í literature in Arabic, English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as two books in Braille.
More than 5,400 information pamphlets in Italian alone were taken by visitors to the booth. Those who manned the booth commented favorably on letting people take literature from the display by choice rather than having it handed to them.
An advertisement for the booth, with a short paragraph on the types of books published by the Bahá’í Publishing Trusts, and in what languages they are published, appeared in a Fair newspaper for two days.
The newspaper was distributed to each of the Fair’s 9,000 exhibitors as well as to Italian and foreign commerce houses, local hotels, and Italian and foreign businessmen.
About 11,000 copies of the Fair’s catalog, again with a short paragraph describing the types of books published by the Bahá’í Publishing Trusts, is being distributed internationally.
The booth was in an area of the Fair where the most important publishing houses in Italy also had booths.
A special guest at the booth was the French Bahá’í author, André Brugiroux, who presented his film La Terre n’est qu’un Seul Pays (The Earth Is but One Country) four times, outside the Fair, to 390 non-Bahá’ís.
The positive results of the Bahá’í presence at the Fair have been felt in Milan with an increased number of seekers attending firesides.
The Milan community hopes to participate in the Fair again next year.
[Page 7]
The Bahá’í wedding of Persian believers Fereidun Sanai, seated left, and Ilen Assaturian, seated right, was the first in the town of Scandicci, Italy. It was also the first wedding to take place in the meeting chamber of the City Council.
The marriage of Fereidun Sanai and Ilen Assaturian, both Persian Bahá’ís, was the first Bahá’í marriage in Scandicci, Italy, a city of 60,000 inhabitants near Florence.
It took place at City Hall in a large salon used exclusively for City Council meetings except for the Bahá’í wedding.
In fact, it was not until the third time the Bahá’ís requested use of the room that permission was granted.
The City Council even decorated the room with flowers, brought in extra chairs and offered the use of an adjoining room for the reception.
The Lord Mayor, who originally had been in disagreement with the spiritual principles of the Faith, was present at the wedding.
The 180 guests present—including 110 non-Bahá’ís—listened to the prayers and the Marriage Tablet, and heard a talk on the principles of the Faith and Bahá’í marriage.
Never had so many people in Scandicci heard about the Faith at one time. After the ceremony, many guests asked the Bahá’ís about the Faith.
A leading national newspaper carried an account of the wedding.
Verona, the most rapidly growing Bahá’í community in Italy, held a month of intensive teaching in October 1977. The City Council of Verona kindly granted the believers the use of a room at the Museum of Natural Sciences, where five public meetings, a debate and a Bahá’í get-together were held.
On October 20, the friends commemorated the Birth of the Báb with a concert performed by the internationally famous Bahá’í concert pianist. Maestro Alfredo Speranza, who played some of his own compositions that were inspired by the Faith and the music of Liszt and Chopin.
The well-attended meetings had been announced in the local newspaper and on radio.
By express wish of the Holy See of the Catholic Church, panels of the new church built in Forli, Italy, are decorated with ecumenical writings, among them two quotations from The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh.
Two of the nine large inscriptions on the facade of the new Catholic Church in Forli, Italy, are quotations from The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh.
The church, designed by non-Bahá’í architects Riccardo Maganini and Giancarlo Pediconi, was the subject of a recent feature article in the prestigious magazine L’architettura, in which large photographs showed one of the inscriptions plainly.
The quotations are from the Arabic Hidden Words No. 13 (“O Son of Spirit! I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? ...”) and No. 59 (“O Son of Being! Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent....”).
Other inscriptions on the church are from the Book of Jeremiah, the Talmud, the writings of Confucius, and the words of St. Francis of Assisi.
A letter from the friends in Sweden[edit]
1 A serious moment at Sweden’s National Convention. Shown here (left to right) are Ezzat Djazayeri, Auxiliary Board member Hadi Afsahi, Continental Counsellor Dorothy Ferraby, Auxiliary Board member Åke Johansson.
2 Some of the friends who attended the 1978 Bahá’í National Convention in Sweden.
3 The National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Sweden.
4 The recently-elected National Spiritual Assembly of Sweden. Left to right: Roland Stenberg, Ruhi Golmohammadi, Peå Akerdahl, Lena Sinaie, Hans Odermyr, Mehri Afsahi, Paul Öjermark, Ulf Persson, Ferri Golmohammadi.
5 Bahá’ís in Sweden from (left to right) Persia, Africa, Canada.
6 Some of Sweden’s Bahá’í youth and children at a playground.
7 A group of Bahá’ís in Sweden gathers at a pizza restaurant for a lunch break.
[Page 9]
Beloved Friends,
Alláh’u’Abhá! Sweden won—actually surpassed—her goals during the Nine Year Plan. Eleven Local Spiritual Assemblies existed then, three more than the Plan required. Today, with less than one year left in the Five Year Plan, Sweden has 13 Local Spiritual Assemblies, nine short of the goal. Sweden is among those 30 nations mentioned in the Riḍván message from the Universal House of Justice that must witness tremendous sacrifice if the goals are to be won.
In Europe, and perhaps especially in northern Europe, the Bahá’ís face the great tests spawned by rampant materialism and secularism. While their brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia and other places struggle to consolidate the thousands of new Bahá’ís, the Scandinavians sacrifice enormous amounts of time, energy and love in activities that may not even result in one new believer over a period of many months.
We in Sweden stand on a threshold. The excitement, the nervousness, the wonder inherent in that position can be felt all over Sweden. It is the threshold of sacrifice. The time is so short, the believers so few. Courage is required—courage to reach out and find the receptive souls and love them into the Faith. New teaching methods must and will be found this year, especially in the area of individual teaching and use of Bahá’í hospitality in our homes.
We are blessed here in Europe with our beloved Counsellors, four of whom have visited Sweden since January. Their presence has contributed greatly to the new energy and spirit among us. Adib Taherzadeh gave us two days of deeply inspiring talks on teaching; Erik Blumenthal devoted a weekend to child education; Betty Reed met with the National Spiritual Assembly; Dorothy Ferraby met with the National Spiritual Assembly and with Auxiliary Board member Hadi Afsahi. Ms. Ferraby also attended our National Convention, urging us to teach, to pioneer, and to open new localities. “This,” she said, “will be the most exciting year we’ve ever lived in!”
In every area of our Bahá’í community life there are signs of a new life, an intensification, a new channeling of energy. These signs include the relatively sudden growth of the Faith in one of the goal towns that now has eight believers; the existence until Riḍván of permanent teaching teams in the north and south of Sweden; the opening of Lithuania to the Faith, a Five Year Plan goal; the assignment of 38 (previously 19) delegates to the National Convention this year; the near-completion of a detailed history of the Faith in Sweden; the increase in assistants to the Auxiliary Board to nine; the sacrificial work of the Publishing Trust as it nears completion of a Swedish edition of Gleanings and a new prayer book; the sacrifice present in our monthly Bahá’í newsletter that regularly includes several pages of drawings, stories, puzzles, and other items for children.
Exciting news has come from the famous university town of Uppsala where Mehri Afsahi, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Sweden, is a student at the Pedagogical Institute in a course on “Education for Peace.” Recently, Mehri was invited to lead a seminar on Bahá’í consultation during which the process was practiced by everyone present on a simulated problem. The response was quite positive, and the professor, a good friend of the Faith, has asked Mehri to write a paper on Bahá’í consultation.
Also in Uppsala, a Bahá’í researcher at the University, Dr. Pakzad, recently arranged a Riḍván party and invited his colleagues. Seventy people, including the Bahá’ís, attended, an unusually large number. Many of them received information about the Faith for the first time.
Some other personal glimpses ...
Did you know that we in Sweden have a stamp fund? There is a Local Spiritual Assembly that has an opportunity to sell used stamps and contribute the income to the National Fund. One can always spot a Swedish Bahá’í when he suddenly dives headlong into a trash basket to retrieve an old envelope with a used stamp on it ...
We have a pioneer in Greenland who recently married an Eskimo ... One of our earliest Bahá’ís, and perhaps the first ever to fulfill a homefront goal in Sweden, Martha Collander, has celebrated her 90th birthday ... A group of believers recently took a two-week trip specifically to visit isolated believers, and were most happy to meet these precious jewels who hadn’t been visited for some time ...
Many groups of Bahá’í teachers from other countries will be coming to Sweden this summer including a group of American Indians. Two goal towns, Helsingborg and Luleå, have been publicized to the Bahá’í world as places for traveling Bahá’ís to visit and teach in this summer.
But it is we in Sweden who must make the necessary sacrifices; the goals must be won, and we are the ones who must win them. You can help too, through your prayers and your loving support.
“Therefore, you who are in Europe, do not be discouraged because you are few, or because people think that your Cause is of no importance. If few people come to your gatherings do not lose heart, and if you are ridiculed and contradicted be not distressed, for the apostles of Christ had the same to bear. They were reviled and persecuted, cursed and ill-treated, but in the end they were victorious, and their enemies were found to be wrong.
“If history should repeat itself and all these same things should happen to you, do not be saddened but be full of joy, and thank God that you are called upon to suffer as holy men of old have suffered. If they oppose you, be gentle with them; if they contradict you, be firm in your faith; if they desert you and flee from before you, seek them out and treat them kindly. Do harm to nobody; pray for all; try to make your light shine in the world, and let your banner fly high in the heavens. The beautiful perfume of your noble lives will permeate everywhere. The light of truth kindled in your hearts will shine out to the distant horizon!
“The indifference and scorn of the world matters not at all, whereas your lives will be of the greatest importance.
“All those who seek truth in the Heavenly Kingdom shine like the stars; they are like fruit trees laden with choice fruit, like seas full of precious pearls.
“Only have faith in the Mercy of God, and spread Divine Truth.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 118.
With warmest Bahá’í greetings,
United States[edit]
Dedications, celebrations, and picnics... as the American community launches a final drive toward victory in the Five Year Plan.
On May 23, 1978, exactly 134 years after the historic Declaration of the Báb, the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, the Mother Temple of the West, was designated “one of the Nation’s cultural resources worthy of preservation” and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States was notified of the listing by Keith A. Scalle, National Register coordinator for the Division of Historic Sites, Illinois Department of Conservation.
The notification came shortly after the House of Worship had received the four millionth visitor since its public dedication in May 1953.
Other visitors last May included Spiros Kyprianou, the president of the Republic of Cyprus, and the 60-member national ballet company of Poland. Thirty-five tours of the House of Worship were counted in May, the largest number for any month since its opening.
President Kyprianou, accompanied by his wife and several government officials, was greeted at the House of Worship by four members of the National Spiritual Assembly, and Mary Sawicki of the Bahá’í International Community office. The president was given several pamphlets and Volume XV of The Bahá’í World.
President Kyprianou’s visit on May 28 came during the final session of the 69th U.S. Bahá’í National Convention. Only a few days before that visit, the first National Spiritual Assembly of Cyprus was elected...
[Page 11]
Bahá’ís in the continental United States, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii launched a second “Victory Weekend” Saturday, June 24, with a festive celebration described by the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears as “the largest picnic the world has ever seen.”
The picnics, held in many Bahá’í communities throughout North America and Hawaii, commemorated the visit by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in June 1912 to Teaneck and West Englewood, New Jersey.
Mr. Sears was at Evergreen Cabin in Teaneck where more than 1,500 Bahá’ís and their guests gathered for the 66th annual “Souvenir of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”
Recalling the words of the beloved Master, Mr. Sears urged the friends in North America to “arise with superhuman strength and energy” to win the goals in the last few months of the Five Year Plan.
Also present at the Teaneck observance were Continental Counsellors Edna True and Dr. Sarah M. Pereira, and Soo Fouts, the National Spiritual Assembly’s assistant secretary for teaching.
More than 1,000 persons gathered Saturday evening in West Englewood where Mr. Sears hosted “An Evening With the Beloved Master,” and more than 300 were present the following day for a “Victory Rally” with Mr. Sears in New York City.
In Chicago, more than 200 Bahá’ís and their guests enjoyed a picnic at Lincoln Park, where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also walked in 1912, and heard a talk on the travels of the Master by Auxiliary Board Member D. Thelma Jackson.
Other large observances were held in California, South Carolina, Minnesota, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, and other states...
In Texas, the first three weeks of the North Texas Victory Campaign, which got under way early in June, produced 95 declarants whose enrollment could increase the district’s Bahá’í population by 70 percent and the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies from three to nine.
The campaign is being assisted by a full-time teaching team whose members include four adults, one Bahá’í youth, and six children ages 10-14.
The California Victory March continues its northward swing through the state this summer following its initial successes in El Centro, Lemon Grove, and Watsonville. Shown here are Bahá’í entertainers including England Dan and John Ford Coley, Leslie and Kelly, Bob Gundry, Red Grammer and drummer Gary Bulkin performing during one of the many concert appearances that are an integral part of the teaching campaign.
Around the World[edit]
Bolivia[edit]
Nearly all goals won[edit]
In late May, the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia reported that the Bolivian Bahá’í community had won all of its Five Year Plan goals except for the translation of literature into one goal language and the incorporation of some Local Spiritual Assemblies.
On the first day of Riḍván, more than 1,000 Local Assemblies were formed in Bolivia. At that time, there were some 4,800 localities open to the Faith in Bolivia, which has a population of a little more than five million.
The National Assembly of Bolivia has pledged to help neighboring countries win their goals, and to rededicate itself to programs of expansion and consolidation within Bolivia.
New Book[edit]
‘Tablets’ published[edit]
The Universal House of Justice has announced the publication of Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the second of three compilations scheduled to be prepared and published by the World Centre during the Five Year Plan.
The House of Justice appointed its Research Department to prepare the compilation, and Habib Taherzadeh, with the assistance of a select committee at the World Centre, was responsible for the translation of those Tablets and passages of the Tablets not previously translated by Shoghi Effendi.
The book includes 16 of the most significant and much-loved Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, including the Most Holy Tablet, the Glad Tidings, Tablet of the World, Tablet of Wisdom, Words of Wisdom, and Book of the Covenant. Some were translated into English many years ago at the request of the Master, and many of these same passages later were re-translated by the Guardian.
Alaska[edit]
Teaching accelerates[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly of Alaska launched the biggest teaching and consolidation effort in the history of the state at a series of training institutes beginning in June.
Fourteen institutes, beginning June 2-11 in Anchorage and scheduled to close September 1-10 in Juneau, have been designed to train believers to serve on teaching or consolidation teams in every part of Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands.
Winter Conference held[edit]
Eight Bahá’í communities were represented among the 32 adults, three youth, and 37 children who attended a Winter Conference in Petersburg, Alaska, April 28-30.
The conference dealt with many aspects of teaching the Faith, from teaching family members to making teaching trips away from home.
The participants discussed “priorities” in a class led by Auxiliary Board member Howard Brown, and, in another class, “Muḥammad and the Koran.”
A banquet was held Saturday evening in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the first mention of the Faith in Petersburg.
Guatemala[edit]
10 Assemblies formed[edit]
Ten new Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed in Guatemala during the last two weeks in March after 156 adults and 62 youth were enrolled in the Faith, largely through the efforts of eight traveling teachers.
The teaching project was centered in the Department of Zacapa, where the team used informal gatherings in homes and with individuals to present the Faith, rather than the “proclamation” approach.
A report by Dr. Hidáyatu’lláh Aḥmadíyyih, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Central America, said, “It was felt that the proclamation method in a new community would be likely to arouse opposition against the Faith prematurely, and those who are enrolled in such a situation often are not properly prepared to face the challenges of their friends and the tests involved with their newly-embraced Faith.”
India[edit]
Shown here are some of the participants and guests at the 49th annual Bahá’í National Convention of India held May 26-28 at New Delhi in the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God H. Collis Featherstone.
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Consequently, new believers were deepened as they were taught. The teachers spent up to a full hour with them, leaving them with copies of the booklet, “The New Garden,” and with prayers and pamphlets about the Faith.
After 10 days, second visits were made to the new communities to form new Local Assemblies. “In the majority of cases we found wonderful spiritual growth and enthusiasm and joy in belonging to the Faith,” said Dr. Aḥmadíyyih. “The prayers, particularly, had made a deep impression.”
On the follow-up visits, opportunities were found to use proclamation materials, such as slide programs, in the new communities. The new believers welcomed the material because it gave them a deeper understanding of the Faith.
Mexico[edit]
The first Bahá’í Campus Club at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Mexico, School of Medicine was formed in April 1978. Three of its four members, all of whom are pioneers from the United States, are (left to right) Don Burt, Dayton Haigney, Jack Jacobs. Not shown is the club’s fourth member, Jennifer Scott. All the members are active outside the club as well, serving on Local Assemblies, Regional Teaching Committees, and as traveling teachers. Students from all over the world attend the Autonomous University at Guadalajara.
Malaysia[edit]
Regional Conference set[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia, on behalf of the Malaysian Bahá’í community, extends a warm invitation to the friends throughout the world to attend the Southeast Asia Regional Conference at Kuching, Sarawak, from December 16-19, 1978.
Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, is on the eastern side of peninsular Malaysia.
This marks the first time that a major conference will be held in eastern Malaysia. More than 1,000 believers from Southeast Asia are expected to attend, including Bahá’ís from the jungles of Sarawak and Sabah.
The conference theme is “The Mighty Forces Within ...”
Botswana[edit]
Building new World Order[edit]
The Bahá’ís of the village of Tlikweng, Botswana, faced with the task of gathering materials for the construction of a local Bahá’í Center, made 1,000 bricks within a week. The enterprise began when one Bahá’í woman started making bricks on her own.
The 1,000 bricks are sufficient to begin construction on the new building.
Hand of Cause visits[edit]
The Hand of the Cause of God H. Collis Featherstone, while visiting Botswana March 18-23, appeared at a public meeting, a teaching conference and other gatherings, and was interviewed on the radio.
He spoke to an audience of 80 people in Gaborone on the purpose of the Bahá’í Faith, the Station of Bahá’u’lláh, and the relationship of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission to other religions.
A majority of long-time believers were among the 25 people who heard Mr. Featherstone speak in Palapye.
United Kingdom[edit]
‘Fairest fruit’ ripens[edit]
“The fairest fruit of the constant labors of the friends in Scotland is this historic formation,” the March issue of the Nineteen Day Feast Newsletter of the United Kingdom said in reporting that the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Perth and Kinross in Scotland has been formed.
The newsletter also reported the acquisition of property in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the site of its Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, thus winning a Five Year Plan goal for the United Kingdom that a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds be established in the capital cities in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Three believers in Scotland appeared recently on a program dealing with the topic, “Was Jesus God?” on Scotland’s British Broadcasting Corporation television network. The three Bahá’ís, said the newsletter, made “significant contributions” during the 35-minute program.
Scottish Bahá’í wedding[edit]
The first Bahá’í wedding to be recognized by Scottish law took place recently at the new Bahá’í Center in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to a cablegram received June 11 at the World Centre in Haifa.
The wedding of the couple—Pamela and Brian O’Toole—received local and national publicity.
Bahá’í float a winner[edit]
A float entered in the District Festival Parade by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Stirling, Scotland, won first prize as the “Best Organization” entry.
The float theme was “Ye Are the Flowers of One Garden,” and Bahá’í youth and children on the float threw freshly-picked flowers to the thousands of spectators.
Extensive coverage was given to the parade by the local newspaper, and for the second year in a row, a photo of the Bahá’í float was printed.
The Local Assembly donated its prize money—50 pounds sterling—to a local children’s home.
Canada[edit]
Teaching plan a success[edit]
A team of Bahá’ís from Saskatchewan, Canada, developed a unique teaching plan that was used successfully in the town of North Battleford, an extension goal of the Spiritual Assembly of Saskatoon.
“We did not depend on public meetings, street teaching or door-to-door invitations. We felt we wanted to teach, to confirm people in the Faith,” said a report from Don Rogers, an Auxiliary Board member who helped organize the project.
The team, after meetings with other Local Assemblies in the area and the Goals Committee, held a weekend class on teaching, traveled to the goal city, rented a motel room with an attached sitting room for firesides, “and started to invite people to hear about the Faith.”
The report said, “We told them we were in North Battleford to tell people about this new Revelation and to build a Local Assembly in the town, as every town in the world has to have one!”
The team telephoned people who knew a Bahá’í, were known to the Bahá’ís, or were relatives of Bahá’ís who lived elsewhere. They were invited to informal meetings at the motel or were asked if they would like to host firesides in their homes.
“One couple, who had not heard of the Faith before, held two meetings in their home. Both declared their Faith and were enrolled two days after we first telephoned them,” the report said.
Some of the people who were telephoned said they were not interested in the Faith themselves, but gave the team the names of others they knew who were “searching for something,” and suggested they be contacted. Many of them were “caught in the vision of building Assemblies,” the report said.
On some evenings as many as four firesides were held at one time in the town. Included was at least one meeting on a nearby Indian Reserve that had once had an Assembly.
After the one-week experiment was over, the team’s report pointed out that “if we could have kept the high level of involvement and collaboration going for one more week, the Assembly would have been formed. Everyone worked as an organic whole in an attitude of prayer and with full confidence that an Assembly would be built.”
The town had five enrolled believers when the week was over.
Laos[edit]
Dr. Heshmat Ta’eed (left), the first Bahá’í pioneer to Laos, was reunited recently in Shrewsbury, England, his present home, with Bui Van-an (right), the first native-born Bahá’í in Laos, who learned of the Faith from Dr. Ta’eed. Also present was Vu Van Khang, a Vietnamese Bahá’í who is living in Paris. Dr. Ta’eed was in Laos for six years; today the Laotian Bahá’í community includes more than 150 Local Spiritual Assemblies.
Argentina[edit]
Shown here are participants in a three-week teaching trip to Argentina’s Mapuche Indian area in February. The team traveled in a Land Rover equipped with battery-powered slide projectors, guitar, and teaching materials in the Spanish and Mapuche languages. Left to right are Reed Chandler, Antonio Lizama, Pedro Salvador, Alejandro Caballero, Sharon and Carlos Ewing and children, Felipe Jara, Karime Abara. Messrs. Salvador, Lizama, Jara, and Chandler traveled from Chile to teach; the last three are members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Chile. The teaching effort was culminated by a Summer School attended by more than 30 persons.
Tonga[edit]
Faith’s status enhanced[edit]
The Bahá’í Faith in Tonga received unique government recognition this year when the National Spiritual Assembly was certified as a permanent member of the Viola Hospital Board of Visitors.
The permanent members of the organization are the heads of the major religions in the country.
Also, since January, the Tongan Bahá’ís have sponsored a weekly 15-minute radio program, broadcast every Sunday evening at 10:30 over the only radio station in the country.
Entitled “The New Era,” the program has generated a great deal of interest in the Faith. The first five broadcasts were in English, but the remainder have been in Tongan.
Chile[edit]
Community comes alive[edit]
Who can say why a Bahá’í community lies dormant for a time, then suddenly bursts into new bloom?
In February, the province of Valdivia, Chile, received spiritual impetus through a rejuvenating Summer School and the arrival of a new pioneer. In the three months that followed, more was accomplished for the Faith than in all the previous years of the Five Year Plan.
Things started happening when one person accepted Bahá’u’lláh during Summer School; later, four adults and one youth were enrolled in the Faith.
Then, after many teaching trips, the extension goal community of Panguipulli was opened to the Faith with the enrollment of a married couple. This won the most elusive Five Year Plan goal of Valdivia: the opening of a new department in the province.
Feeling the growing momentum, the friends began to turn their attention to the other two departments in the province.
The community was intrigued by a report from the Statistics Department showing five Bahá’ís on Isla Huapi, an island in a beautiful lake called Ranco. The believers there had been visited by a Bahá’í only once, in 1968, when they entered the Faith during a teaching trip by Hooper Dunbar, now a member of the International Teaching Centre in Haifa.
On April 29, Isla Huapi was visited by Bahá’ís for the first time in 10 years. Kenton Dunbar and Chuck French arrived on the island after a journey of four hours by bus and two hours by rowboat. Within a short time, they ascertained that three of the people on the Statistics Department’s list were indeed Bahá’ís, even after years of no contact with other believers!
When the two teachers returned to the city of Valdivia, prepared to open the fourth and only remaining department, they were told the goal already had been met.
Manuel Salvo had visited the city of La Union in the fourth department, had discovered an isolated believer, and had taught the Faith to another person, who subsequently was enrolled.
In February, there had been one Local Assembly and one department open to the Faith in the province of Valdivia. By May 1, there were two Local Assemblies, two Bahá’í groups, and four departments open to the Faith.
Before February, there had been no declarations in the province for two years; by May 1, there were 23 declarations!
Burma[edit]
Homefront pioneers arise[edit]
Twenty Bahá’ís volunteered to become homefront pioneers in Burma during a semi-annual teaching conference in February, despite the fact that Burma has won all of the goals assigned to it for the Five Year Plan except for the establishment of two new Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. The homefront pioneers were assigned to three areas in Irrawaddy Division and in Shan State.
More than 1,000 believers attended the teaching conference, held at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Daidanaw. Later, a youth conference was held at the same time as the dedication of the new District Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Ngabyema. About 150 Bahá’ís attended; 10 other attendees declared during the conference.
Meanwhile, the National Spiritual Assembly of Burma is making plans for the celebration of the Centenary of the Bahá’í Faith in that country. The observance is scheduled for October 18-20 at the National Center in Rangoon.
Centenary observance[edit]
Bahá’ís all over the world are warmly invited to attend the centenary celebration October 18-20 of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in Burma. The observance is to be held at the Bahá’í National Center in Rangoon.
Benin[edit]
Adrien Gnambodé, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Benin, became the first native-born believer in that country to visit the Holy Land when he participated April 28-May 2 in the fourth Bahá’í International Convention in Haifa, Israel.
Beninese believer visits Holy Land[edit]
At Benin’s ninth Bahá’í National Convention, held May 19-21 at Cotonou, National Spiritual Assembly member Adrien Gnambodé, who became the first native Beninese believer to visit the Holy Land when he attended the fourth Bahá’í International Convention in Haifa, Israel, joyfully reported his experiences to the 60 delegates and observers present.
Mr. Gnambodé and Thelma Khelghati, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for West Africa, narrated a slide program on the World Centre.
After hearing the message from the Universal House of Justice to the Convention, the Beninese believers, who already have surpassed their Local Assembly and locality goals for the Five Year Plan, agreed wholeheartedly to meet the challenge of winning the remaining goals.
Bahamas[edit]
150 attend Convention[edit]
In a cablegram received May 23 at the World Centre, the newly-elected first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahamas reported that the National Convention May 19-21 in Nassau was attended by native believers from every island in the Bahamas on which Bahá’ís reside, plus a host of pioneers and visitors from the United States, bringing the total to around 150 people.
The Convention, said the cablegram, was publicized “through all forms of mass media,” attracting considerable public attention and prompting the Chief Justice of the Bahamas to request Bahá’í literature.
The members of the new National Spiritual Assembly were drawn from four of the five islands open to the Faith: Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama, and New Providence.
In a second cablegram, received May 23 in Haifa, the National Assembly said: “In rarefied atmosphere new pillar Universal House of Justice elected 20 May 1978. Assembled delegates, visitors first National
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Peru Teaching creates community of 250 A new Bahá’í community of more than 250 believers in San Antonio, a barrio settlement near Iquitos on the Amazon River in Peru, has been created with the assistance of a successful teaching project known as “Ensenanza en Masa” (Teaching the Masses). A team of volunteers from Lima and elsewhere, after a short training session in techniques used successfully in Brazil, turned its efforts to San Antonio, a sprawling collection of adjoining homes and unpaved streets without lights or sewers. To reach the barrio, the teachers had to struggle across makeshift bridges of planks and boards, as the barrio is surrounded by swamps. About 1,000 families live there. “Soon the enrollments began to spiral,” the report said, adding, “but the purpose of this effort was not only to enroll new believers, but to consolidate and deepen them immediately.” “For this reason, the teaching efforts were carefully limited to a four-square-block area, and this made it possible for the three teams of two teachers to visit the community two or three times each day, repeating the initial message in depth.” The essence of their teaching technique was: “We are Bahá’ís; we believe in one God; Bahá’u’lláh is the new Messenger from God; He taught the principles of unity and justice.” The teachers gave the listeners short histories of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, explained the meaning of the Covenant, and spoke about the power and necessity of prayer, the equality of men and women, the role of the mother as the first educator of children, and the need to train children in both spiritual and intellectual matters. Presently, weekly dawn prayers are held at four homes in San Antonio, a Women’s Committee is becoming increasingly active, and a new Youth Committee has been formed to work with the Youth Committee in nearby Iquitos. “In every way, we have tried to unite the activities between San Antonio and Iquitos,” the team report said. As another result of the teaching in San Antonio, Bahá’í activity in Iquitos itself has increased, as have teaching efforts in other cities in the region. New Local Assemblies were established in Santa Clara and Santo Thomas, and the activities of the Rumo Cocha community were strengthened. The “Ensenanza en Masa” team plans to “move on to other areas and new goals,” the report concluded.
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Convention of the Bahamas grateful presence your representative, beloved Hand of the Cause William Sears, Counsellor Lloyd Gardner, representative Mother Assembly United States Glenford Mitchell. Spirit Convention swelled reading message from Supreme Body Bahamian community; overjoyed respond to call; committed winning goals assigned closing year Plan.”
Greece[edit]
Airline promotes Faith[edit]
In a special television program in Greece designed to increase its tourist business to Israel, Olympic Airways spent seven of 15 minutes entirely on the Faith, illustrating the narration with films of the Shrines and gardens in Haifa.
The narrator explained the history and principles of the Faith accurately and fairly, emphasizing that it is a universal religion.
The program, aired in February, was the first in which the Faith has been mentioned on Greek television.
Finland[edit]
Teaching Conference held[edit]
More than 70 Bahá’ís attended a National Teaching Conference held March 25-26 in Turku, Finland, at which Continental Counsellor Dorothy Ferraby was present.
The National Spiritual Assembly, National Teaching Committee, and National Youth Committee each reported on the present state of the Faith in Finland and outlined their plans for the teaching work during the summer.
Zambia[edit]
Youth open village[edit]
Following a recent deepening institute at Kabwe, Zambia, two youth from Lusaka were asked to arrange a deepening class and teaching project in a nearby village.
They agreed to go, but got lost on the way and went instead to an unopened village, Likumbi.
While waiting for a bus to take them to the village they had agreed to visit, the youth taught the Faith, and in three hours found seven people who wished to become Bahá’ís.
Two months later, one of the youth returned to Likumbi for a few days and found another 11 declarants.
The new believers in Likumbi then helped open three neighboring villages and helped bring 43 people into the Faith.
Three new Local Spiritual Assemblies have been formed in the area.
Jamaica[edit]
This display depicting nine World Religions was developed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Jamaica and exhibited for two weeks in January in the lobby of the main Kingston Public Library. The display attracted thousands of viewers.
Marianas[edit]
National Assembly elected[edit]
Every one of the delegates voted in May in the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Marianas Islands, and afterward each of them resolved to focus “maximal thinking on entry by troops and financial self-sufficiency” for the Faith in the islands.
The Hand of the Cause of God Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir represented the Universal House of Justice at the National Convention.
Ecuador[edit]
Galapagos Assembly raised[edit]
During a teaching trip last fall, two believers from Ecuador helped establish the first two Local Spiritual Assemblies in the Galapagos Islands, a small archipelago off the western coast of South America that is a possession of Ecuador.
Nooshin Burwell, accompanied by her daughter, Taraneh, and Bahíyyih Rashidpour conducted a two-month program of teaching, deepening and children’s classes, resulting in the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assemblies of Santa Cruz and San Cristobel. Several other localities were opened to the Faith during their stay.
“We found the inhabitants of these islands very receptive to the Faith and very kind,” they said. “This was a wonderful experience for us, for we realize that the seeds sown by the devoted Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, Haig Kevorkian and Gayle Woolson, the devoted pioneer, Juan Vargas, and others who were privileged to teach in these islands, through the Spirit of Bahá’u’lláh have sprouted, grown and become beautiful fruits that it was our privilege to harvest!”
Surinam/Fr. Guiana[edit]
Bush Negroes active[edit]
The second National Convention in Surinam was attended by an “overwhelming majority of Bush Negroes,” said a cablegram to the Universal House of Justice received on May 30.
Contributions made at the Convention include land for Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in five Bush Negro villages, funds for an outboard motor to be used in teaching along the Marowijne River, and a cassette duplicator to “spread the words of the Blessed Beauty.”
At Riḍván, 39 Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed in Surinam.
