Food, Frolic and Favour

I LIKE THAT our two friends, Dianna and Wendy, attended the Baha’i New Year celebration held on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The quiz at the beginning of the celebration explained its purpose: to visit friends and relatives, celebrate with food and exchange gifts. Other facts about Naw-Ruz include its literal translation of new day, and that it’s an old Iranian celebration marking the start of the Zoroastrian new year.

Kindness permeated the celebration the moment we walked in. The hustle of putting the hall ready to receive friends and family was well underway with volunteers preparing the food tables, coffee and tea, placing live potted plants on tables draped in brightly coloured cloth. To add to the festive feel, there was a flying fish overhead being operated by a sweet young girl.

A good turn was captured by many of the attendees like when a friend asked another if they would like something to drink, or during the meal when plates were prepared for the children, and after we ate when volunteers unobtrusively slid utensils and dishes from the tables. Goodwill was celebrated in the kitchen also while hands dipped in and out of hot water, towels buffed dishes to a shine, and garbage was dealt with as a grateful errand.

Happy Naw-Ruz to everyone.

Baha'i Faith Website

Fun and Frolic

Live entertainment

International Women's Day

I LIKE THAT I stopped for a few groceries at a local market on March 8, International Women’s Day. It gave me that chance to speak to the checkout clerk and a male shopper about the celebration of women and how the day is meant to inspire women and celebrate achievements.

At noon that day, I had spent a glorious time having tea and sharing a fruit platter with other women at the Campbell River Women’s Centre. We sat around a large table and chatted about our accomplishments, so far, with our selves, children, husbands and family. One of the women wanted to know how International Women’s Day came to be and another explained that the idea and theme started in Eastern Europe and Russia around 1914.

“Women wanted to make a political statement about equality and wanted to have the same rights as a man. They marched in the streets and spread the word about human rights and how they wanted a say in how things should be run. In the United States, in 1908, women took the streets with placards telling everyone that they wanted the right to vote.”

I piped in with what I had learnt while I was teaching English in China.

“In 1949 the Chinese government proclaimed March 8 would be made an official holiday with women in China given a half-day off. We need the same thing to happen in Canada.”

The conversation continued in a playful and highly energized way. Some of us exchanged contact information and promised to continue our newfound friendships.

  

“The woman is indeed of the greater importance to the race. She has the greater burden and the greater work…” ~ (Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 102)

Women are grrreat!