(NOTE: I wrote this post during Ridvan and only now realized I had never published it!)I thought I would share a photo of the cake my son made for our Ridvan celebration.
What I love about this cake is not only was it made by my son, but it took a lot of effort. Every year I ponder the idea that Ridvan is the King of Festivals or the Most Great Festival. It seems rather self-explanatory to me!
Truly, as the Baha'i world evolves, we will figure out how to make Ridvan feel more important, more joyous and more momentous than everything else we do. It is not that the other celebrations are not important, joyous or momentous but we have to remember that Ridvan is about the very founding of our Faith. It is a celebration of our beginning... It is a celebration of the beginning of the new spiritual journey of the entire world... It is a celebration of the birth of a New Era that signals the coming maturity of a planet that has struggled for millions of years to attain this day without night... How could we relegate this time to something we merely squeeze into the craziness of our lives?
I throw these thoughts out there not because I feel like our family is living up to the standard I feel we should; but solely as food-for-thought. It is just something to ponder at this joyous time. Maybe next year we'll do it just a little bit better... and the year after that... and the year after that...
I have to agree with you on that Ridvan deserves some sort of special recognition. As I have been a Baha'i for only three years now (it seems like just yesterday), I am always learning, but still struggle with the various holidays, getting used to the calendar and what is traditional. Part of what attracted me to the Baha'is was the lack of non-sensical rituals created long after the founder of the faith passed on that plague many other religions. However, I do still feel that some sort of unifying symbol of Ridvan would help.
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