This time in the Baha’i Faith calendar, Feb. 26-March 1st, is a time for “charity, hospitality and the giving of presents”.
Today Al & I went to 2 Ayyam-i-Ha parties. The first one was one hour north. When we lived in Newberry, we were in that cluster. Most of them live near Laurens, which is 45 mins. north of Newberry. There, we were 2 out of 6 or 7 Bahai’s in a 3-county area. One of those couples has now moved to Texas. One new person has moved into that cluster, and there are 2 women who live nearby, so they come to gatherings of this group. They are a wonderful, fun and interracial group. We had a long discussion about racism in the 50s compared to today, and tried to think of more unrecognized African Americans for Julian to add to his Black history game he is making for children. We came up with some inventors, Thomas Edison’s sidekick, the one who invented the filament for the light bulb, the inventor of the 3-way traffic light, Matthew Henson who went with Admiral Peary to the North Pole and without whose aid Peary would not have survived. There was a famous football coach Al knows about, named Fritz something, who was also the most decorated WWII hero, something like that. We ate lunch and played a game. The game was about how to survive all these various things, like what’s the best way to survive quick sand (put a stick under your hips and float out on your back?) — and Al played Aziz a game of chess. (Al won last year, Aziz won this year.)
Then we drove down PAST our home, to Columbia’s celebration. There must have been 50 people at their Baha’i Center. It was packed. About 10 little girls running around, and 2 boys. The children were hosting the event. They said memorized prayers, sang the calendar song (at my suggestion, thank you very much), and one young boy played a Persian song on clarinet. Then they passed out cupcakes they had made & decorated. The rest of the time they chased each other around the Center.
We are starting to know the friends here. There are a few Persians, mostly older people who don’t speak English well. Not too many but some African American believers and families. Lots of rural South Carolina folks, some from the “city”– Columbia, & a few internationals. Most people here are from the south. Some of the folks from little bergs who never come to the city, do so for these special holidays. We are about 15 miles north of this main community. (Still basically isolated ourselves.)
I came home, had a cup of Rooibos red tea (not as good as cherry but it’s okay) and we are going to bed. Tomorrow Al wants to attend a book fair where they are having some people read some of their work.
Note: our daughter was moving to a new place today, back on the school bus route, closer to town. We hope she hears she has a job Monday.
OH– I dreamed last night we took in a little boy named Toby. No idea why. But I am often with children in my dreams. Lots and lots.
Doctor Grandma 
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