Here's the latest article from the Bahá'í site at BellaOnline.com:

Ayyám-i-Há is Coming!
This is the season for parties for many Bahá'ís, prior to the Fasting month, which is followed by a another party celebrating new year's on the vernal equinox.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art45009.asp

The season will be bittersweet this year because even though we have the Bahá'í holidays and no less than five family birthdays, it will also be the first anniversary of my grandson's death. Our family will be including him in everything because celebrating his life is a party in itself! Such a vibrant, loving young man: did I tell you that he was saving his first haircut till he had at least 10" of hair because that is the minimum to donate for chemo wigs? He almost made it, so his mother and sister are planning to donate in his place.

Some of you may wonder about this attitude, but you know, the longer we live, the more losses we will have, and the more dates on the calendar there will be to remind us. I think it is better to have a party than to spend the day mourning, both for me and for my beloved departed. I'm older than I ever expected to be, so some days it feels like I have more relatives and friends in the next life than here on Earth! Our loved ones would want us to be smiling, not weeping; so, "This the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be happy in it!"

I'll be putting up more articles on what the Bahá'í Faith means by fasting and the New Year celebrations in the coming weeks, so please visit bahai.bellaonline.com for more information about the spring Baha'i holidays.

To participate in free online discussions, this site has a community forum located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=321

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Cheryll Schuette, Baha'i Editor
http://bahai.bellaonline.com

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