“This feast is held to foster comradeship and love, to call God to mind and supplicate Him with contrite hearts, and to encourage benevolent pursuits.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
This past Wednesday, the New West Baha’i Community held their first online Feast. The Nineteen-Day Feast is a gathering held every Baha’i month (a period of nineteen days), which serves as the bedrock of community life. Each Feast has three parts: a devotional portion with prayers and readings from sacred texts, an administrative portion where attendants consult on the affairs of the community and share news, and a social portion.
The Feasts in New Westminster are usually held in homes or apartment common rooms, but this past Feast was held through video conferencing. The meeting began with prayers and songs, with the children and junior youth taking the lead role. Afterwards, everyone had a chance to share how they are doing in the health crisis and to discuss community building activities and service projects that can be done during this time. Finally, the group played a short story-telling game, with plenty of laughter.
The Feast went off very smoothly, and it was wonderful to hear from so many people from across the community and learn about their challenges and efforts in these difficult times. The organization of the Feast itself also represented a large effort on the part of several individuals who reached across the community to ensure that everyone had access to the meeting. Feasts will be held online for the foreseeable future.
