Ridvan celebrates Baha’u’llah’s time in the garden of Ridvan where He publicly declared His station as a Manifestation of God. The Ridvan Festival is 12 days long and is also the time of year where Baha’is elect their governing bodies.
The recently inaugurated House of Worship in Norte del Cauca marks a new stage in the development of the Baha’i Faith in Colombia. In this short video, you can see the sweeping majesty and brilliance of the Temple, both during the day and in the evening, and this beauty mirrors the spiritual growth of nearby communities.
The Temple’s inauguration ceremony marks a historic occasion for the people of Norte del Cauca, home to what is now the world’s second local Baha’i House of Worship – the other is located in Battambang, Cambodia. The local Baha’i House of Worship in Colombia is one of seven Baha’i Houses of Worship announced by the Universal House of Justice in their 2012 Ridvan Message. Two national Houses of Worship in Papua New Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with three more local Houses of Worship in India, Kenya, and Vanuatu have yet to be built.
Houses of Worship are sometimes referred to as “Baha’i Temples” or by the name “Mashriqu’l-Adhkar,” which is Arabic for “Dawning-place of the remembrances of God.” There are currently eight continental Houses of Worship in the world today in Panama, Uganda, the United States of America, Samoa, Australia, India, Germany, and Chile.
You can also read more about the Temple’s design process and its architectural team from this Baha’i World News Service article, find out more about Baha’i Houses of Worship here on Bahai.org, and there’s also a great new compilation on the institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhar now available online at the Baha’i Reference Library.
In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.
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