To see my effort at capturing and organizing these ideas
in an outline format, please click on this link.

From Lisa (EnkindledSpirit@aol.com)

Hello...

I've been refering this site to other Baha'is for MONTHS now...! And I would like to add an idea.

Two weeks prior to the Feast of Mulk, I sent out handwritten invitations to everyone in my community (24 adults)... I wrote personal notes on each one "I've missed you....", "I would love to meet you"... heartfelt things like that.

We had a most amazing Feast!! A whole NEW group of people came to Feast! Three "new" people came to a Feast in our community for the first time...three "absent" adults came out... all of them said the same thing...

"I felt so special getting a handwritten note."

I thought I would send this idea out... it just might work somewhere else!

Lisa K

From Richard (richard.forsberg@ufa.com)

Here are a couple of ideas for Feasts for raising awareness and promoting participation in the Fund in a small community.

The treasurer brings a large flower pot full of potting soil and a package of assorted flower seeds. Each community member selects a seed and plants it in the pot. Then the treasurer looks after the pot and brings it to each Feast so the community can see the growth of the flowers they planted. Once the flowers have bloomed, the pot can be auctioned off and the money raised can be donated to the Fund. This is also a way to show an example of unity in diversity.

The other idea is that the treasurer brings a small cup of powdered paint, a small paint brush, an eye dropper and some water. Each community member puts one drop of water into the paint and makes as many brush strokes as possible until the water is used up. The painting can be of anything the community wants and over a period of time, the community will have painted a painting of what ever they decided on. This also demonstrates how a small contribution from each member of a community can add up to something beautiful.

Great web site. Keep up the good work.

Richard Forsberg
Information Centre Consultant
United Farmers of Alberta
(403) 258-4589
richard.forsberg@ufa.com
http://www.ufa.net

From Linda (lmering@aol.com)

For one feast I chose an opening and closing prayer and a "key" (or "theme") quotation of several paragraphs from the Writings and gave those to (three) people to read. The other writings were relatively short and fitted on 3 x 5 cards of different colors. I put a flower sticker on the back of each card and passed the cards, in a basket, so that everyone who wasn't reading one of the longer selections choose a card (by color or flower or whatever -- there was not time to read the texts and choose that way). Children who could read well enough could participate, of course. People could take the cards home with them if they wished.

An unimportant (to the spirit of the feast) idea: I usually copy all the readings onto some of the pretty paper available to those of us with computers and home printers; so everyone reads from a page rather than a book. (And they can take the readings home if they wish.)

[The following is pretty ordinary, but I'll say it in case nobody else does...] We always have the children say prayers or writings of their choice at feasts. Some of the Persian children chant beautifully. Some of the others sing prayers and writings beautifully, too. (Not everyone sings or chants...some just speak. Others don't even do that yet!) Some of our native-English-speaking adults have begun "chanting" their (English) prayers. It sounds like "singing the prayer to a simple, repetitious melody" and it's fine with us all. As you know, the wording of some of the instructions -- not all of them -- about praying seem to indicate that "chanting" the prayers is a good thing to do...

Of course, anyone is free to say whatever prayer s/he wishes during the devotional part of feast, or during the consultative part, for that matter.

Of course, the _whole_ feast is "spiritual." There are 3 sections -- devotional, consultative, and social. !!!!

Our community has persons who play piano, guitar, and autoharp (gosh, almost _anyone_ can play autoharp!) for accompanying singing. We sometimes take a little time before the devotions begin to teach the melody of a song which might be new; the words are always provided unless the song is totally "call and response" in which the community just "follows the leader." Occasionally, short selections of music are played for just listening, in order to meditate on the text that has just been read.

When it comes to using music as a background for reading the Writings, I personlly am a little conflicted about that. Since I am a music professional, I may feel this more strongly...but the music has its own logic: it says what it has to say musically with the rhythm, rise and fall of the melodic line, and harmony. The Writings (which are more important) say what _they_ have to say....and the two "voices" may not be saying the same thing. Therefore, it is like two persons (the music and the Writings) talking to the listener at the same time, but saying somewhat different things. That's not only confusing, it's impolite!!! On the other hand, a _song_ which is composed to set off the words and add musical meaning (and thus timed perfectly with those words) can be very effective.

At one feast, the host played a recording of (the "children's" song) "I Think You're Wonderful" to close the devotional part. We all stood and went around the room and either greeted, or shook hands with, or hugged one another. Those who knew the song (children especially) sang along, too. Nice idea.

On a final note, I recall one of our most memorable feasts. It was when the host acted on the remark by 'Abdu'l-Baha (?) that at feasts, nothing more than water (or bread and water?) need be served; the feast is essentially spiritual. So for the social portion we had water (well, ice water -- it was summer) and several different breads. There may have been some butter and honey to go on the bread...Everyone loved it.

From Lisa K {Sorry, I failed to save her email address -- curtis}

My husband and I are planning to host the Feast of Ilm...here's a few ideas we're working on...

A half hour before (while people are coming in) we are going to have a "SongFest"...I'll plunk away at the ol' ivories...and everyone else can make a joyful noise...

Spiritual portion is actually going to be "planned"...don't know what we are planning yet...but it will be planned...one of our thoughts is to have shorter readings (a sentence or two)...short enough to hold in the mind for a few moments...play some beautiful music inbetween readings...OR to have a couple people read The Fire Tablet...creative juices still flowing around on these possibilities...

meanwhile...while all this is going on...the homemade bread in the oven should begin to become fragrant...wafting its warm scent throughout the house... so that during the social portion everyone can partake of warm homemade bread with honey/butter...

From Anne Furlong (afurlong@ganymede.cs.mun.ca)

Currently we have an opening prayer, followed by general prayers (open), then readings/prayers. We usually make sure the planned readings and prayers are printed and duplicated in advance, with large-print versions for people who can't read usual (small) print.

From Simon Mawhinney (simon.mawhinney@dial.pipex.com)

The most important thing is to get off to a prompt start. When you tell people a concert begins at 7.30 they get there at 7.15. The same should apply for Feast.

Spiritual Portion:

• more chanting (of a high standard) of texts.

• readers to be notified in advance and expected to rehearse their reading.

• less use of tapes and CDs - more live music. Less corny new-age music, and less Baroque/Enlightenment music.

• prepare programs for the readings - thematise readings

• host to introduce her selection of readings

Admin:

• proper discipline through skillful chairing - not more than one speaking at once.

• no fruitless digression - keep focused on the aims of the community as pioneers of a new religion.

• remember the equal importance of all aspects of Feast.

• perhaps put a time limit on the feast to encourage efficiency

Social:

• If the host is willing and there is enough space, maybe everyone should sit around a table. The seating plan could be arranged so that the usual cliques are separated. The old will go with the young, and those who are familiar with one language could be sat with those who are familiar with another.

From Anne Furlong (afurlong@ganymede.cs.mun.ca)

Apart from the observation that lively believers tend to make lively Feasts *anyway*, here are some suggestions:

Music - live, taped, choral, performance, vocal, instrumental, folk, classic, ethnic. Whatever. At the beginning of the Feast, as a vehicle for chanting the prayers (or learning a new one!), to introduce the social part.

Food - potluck suppers, fruit plates, children serving (or making), outdoor social portions (weather/climate permitting), in the park, as the opening to a mid-day Feast.

Children - serving, saying prayers, welcoming the friends, contributing to the consultation, hearing a Feast story, telling a Feast story, making presentations based on their Baha'i classes, singing, dancing, choosing the prayers and readings and arranging the refreshments.

Scents - flowers, incense (not for the allergic), rose water on the hands of the arriving friends.

Readings - from as many languages as possible, from other Scriptures, from the Guardian (at the end of the devotional part), as varied in length as possible or wanted.

Eloquent talks - on the poetry of Tahirih or Baha'u'llah, on the Arc, on the Fund, on teaching, on sacrifice, on the nature of love, on the nature of God, on the Golden Age, on the advancement of women, on the role of men. Get the believers of ethnic (eg, non-majority) backgrounds to recite poetry and explain its beauty and meaning in their language and culture.

Visual aids - for the Fund, for teaching projects, for upcoming events.

Games during the social part - I highly recommend "Spiritual Pursuit", which we used during our summer school in August, and which produced gales of laughter as well as a great deal of comment; Scrabble; checkers; and the ever-popular (among the youth, anyway) "hook" - the classic Persian card game.

Get the men to do clean-up, the women to lead the consultation.

Get the children to contribute to discussions.

Bring the generations together.

Bring photographs of community events - personal or communal.

Tell stories.

Hug* the friends who haven't been in a while and tell them how much they've been missed. (*with due regard to cultural and Baha'i standards)

Shower everyone with love.

From Diana Gale Kite (markite@gorge.net)

Friends,

I have been following this line just by scanning the messages, but this one caught my eye.

I often use 'intuition' to find a body of Writings to use at Feasts that I am hosting. I pray for clarity and assistance from the Abha Kingdom, then take some of my Bahá'í books and simply use the first random paragraph I come across, or if I'm in a mischievious mood, I use the ninth. I usually have nine but not for ritual, just 'cause I like the idea. You would be amazed at how often the entire group fits together or pertains to challenges our community faces at that time! I don't use this method every time, sometimes I research a specific topic.

Also, if I don't have time to sit and choose with any method, I get out the Books, and ask individuals to close their eyes and open to any page and read a paragraph from that page. You would also be amazed at some of the things people have said to me later- "Wow! I was thinking about that subject all week". etc....

D. Kite

From LMering (Imering@aol.com)

In article "JiSWeD.A.DuE.CuEG2"@bounty.bcca.org, todaysmews@aol.com (Todaysmews) writes:

>>You mean there are Feasts where the devotional *isn't* planned???

With regard to this, I have been to a couple of feasts where the host has simply provided many prayerbooks and other books of the Writings and requested each person to pick his/her favorite selection and read it. (Not everyone had to do this; if they simply preferred to listen and meditate, that was fine.)

These have been quite lovely feasts. Perhaps a host, some time, might want to notify the community in advance that s/he was going to do this, so people could plan to bring their favorite readings along.

Normally, the host chooses readings, or, in the case of several Persian families, they request someone else (Feast and Holy Days Committee member; or Assembly member, or English-speaking friend in the community) to choose English readings while they choose the Persian and Arabic ones.

The readings do not _have_ to center on the name of the month, but they can if the "chooser" wishes.

And we always like to remember that the _whole_ feast is "spiritual."

The readings and prayers constitute the "devotional" part of feast.

Allah-u-Abha -

-Linda (lmering)

From Helen (helenk-o@email.msn.com)

One of the most effective things I've ever heard at a Feast was when a Persian friend had someone read each of nine Hidden Words in English, but before each one, he would recite it in Persian. It was beautiful in the extreme.

Love,
Helen
Huntsville, Alabama