Bahá’is of Halifax to celebrate founder’s Bicentenary on October 22

By a Staff Reporter

The Bahá’i Community of Halifax will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh – the founder of the Bahá’i faith on Sunday, October 22 at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

“The celebration is wide open to anyone. The Cohn is a BIG room,” said John Chesley, Secretary, The Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’is of Halifax.

A day previous, on October 21, the faith community will celebrate the birth of the Bab, the forerunner to Bahá’u’lláh at the Fleet Club Atlantic on 2818 Pusser Lane, Halifax.

At least five million Bahá’is across the world, today revere Bahá’u’lláh – born in 1817, in Tehran – as the most recent of history’s Messengers from God, according to a commemorative brochure issued to mark the bicentenary.

“Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings revolve around the oneness of humanity and his revelation signals a special time in history as the human race moves to a new stage in its collective maturity and wholeness,” it states.

The Bahá’i faith, founded in 1844, is monotheistic, accepts the human race as one family and recognizes all major religions as “unfolding chapters in God’s teaching for humankind.”

Despite the continuing persecution of Bahá’is in Iran, the community has spread throughout the world since Bahá’u’lláh’s passing in 1892. Bahá’is now live in over 200 countries and at least 35,000 members reside in over one thousand localities in Canada and comprise multigenerational Canadians, people of several cultural backgrounds, including Indigenous peoples, more recent immigrants and refugees.

The first Bahá’i community in Canada was established in Montreal in 1902.