Thousands of Bahá'í followers around the world celebrate the birth of the Báb on October 20th. Báb, which literally translates as 'the gate', was a prophet and forerunner of the Bahá'í revelation. Likened to John the Baptist some two thousand years before, the Báb called on people to purify themselves for the coming of the messenger of God, whom Bahá'í believe to be Bahá'u'lláh, who was initially a follower of Báb and through whom the Bahá'í faith was founded.

Although there are many stories of the Báb's childhood and his many good qualities, very little is known of his birth. He was born on 20th October 1819 in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran) as Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad. He was the son of a mercer of Shiraz, Siyyid Muhammad-Ridá, and his wife Fátimih-Bagum who were both descedants of the Prophet Mohammad. The Báb's father died when he was very young and he was put into the care of his uncle, Hájí Mírazá 'Alí.

There is no established tradition in which his birth is celebrated except that this is one of the nine Holy Days on which work is to be suspended. The day is a simple and joyous event that will begin with prayers and devotional readings and develop into some kind of festive social gathering either at home or in a place of worship. The festival is celebrated, in the spirit of the Bahá'í, to be open to all.

Bahá’ís believe that there is one God, that all humanity is one family, and that there is a fundamental unity underlying religion. They recognize that the coming of Bahá'u'lláh has opened the age for the establishment of world peace, when, as anticipated in the sacred scriptures of the past, all humanity will achieve its spiritual and social maturity, and live as one united family in a just, global society.

I had to think about how to explain to the boys about the birth of Báb holiday-because it was a new holiday and new religion to me. I told them that Bahá’ís believe that the Báb came to prepare the followers of the religion for who was coming. The Báb had to make sure everything was ready so that the religion would be ready to be started.

Craft:

Since the five pointed star is often used as a symbol of the Báb, you can have lots of fun with star craft activities!

We dug out some leftover sticks from cake pops and got out the washi tape to make a star.

Tape sticks together the same way you would draw a star.

For our food project I was inspired by this article. While searching for information about the Báb I saw this article about an orange tree that grew from the seeds of an orange tree that had been in front of the Báb's home. Since I didn't see a traditional meal to celebrate Birth of the Báb, I thought something with orange in it would be nice. So to change things up a bit we did an Orange Creamsicle float fromMartha Stewart but it quickly turned into just ice cream topped with oranges since the tonic water gave too bitter a taste for the kiddos.

Mandarin oranges added to ice cream and some tonic water.

After skipping the tonic water the ice cream and oranges were approved!

Thanks for reading!

Craft Theology