Baha’i faith celebrates milestone anniversary

The Baha’i faith community around the world is celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2017, and that event will be recognized in Lethbridge today.

The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai’s of Lethbridge will hold a dinner this evening at Paradise Canyon Golf Resort to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i faith which now numbers some five million followers worldwide.

The Lethbridge event is among bicentiennal celebrations taking place this year across Canada from Vancouver to St. John’s, Newfoundland and around the world in some 100,000 localities from Battambang, Cambodia to Wollongong, Australia to Chicago, Ill. The Baha’i community in Lethbridge has existed since about 1969.

During October, Baha’is around the world are commemorating two holy days that are both unique in the Baha’i calendar, marking the births of the two most important figures in the Baha’i faith — the birth of The Báb, described on the Baha’i community’s website as “the Herald of the Baha’i Faith,” and the birth of Baha’u’llah, described as “the Promised One foretold by the Báb and all of the Divine Messengers of the past.”

The website explains: “Baha’is believe the crucial need facing humanity is to find a unifying vision of the future of society and of the nature and purpose of life. Such a vision unfolds in the writings of Baha’u’llah.”

For more about the Baha’is, visit the website

For information about the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Lethbridge, phone 403-381-8003 or email bahaisoflethbridge@gmail.com.