Portland Bahá’í community gathers to celebrate Ridvan, their holiest festival

At the Portland Bahá’í Center, adapted from the old St. Johns post office, a roomful of people gathered April 20, to celebrate the first day of Ridvan, the holiest and most significant festival in the Bahá’í calendar.

At the service, there was no appointed pastor; instead, community members narrated devotional readings from a variety of religions. The Satori Men’s Chorus, a religiously unaffiliated community choir, stood at the front of the room offering songs between readings.

Ridvan, which means “paradise” in Arabic, commemorates the 12-day period in 1863 when Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í faith, declared his mission as the Promised One, foretold by the world’s major religions. During this period, the community comes together on the first, ninth and 12th days of Ridvan for devotionals and social gatherings.

John Ng, an active member of the Bahá’í assembly in Portland, took part in the service, explaining the Bahá’í mission and beliefs.

“[The faith] is 181 years old and was formed in Iran, out of the cradle of Islam, much like Christianity came out of the cradle of Judaism,” Ng said. “Some of the teachings include there’s one God and there’s really one religion. All these religions are actually part of the same religion, just different chapters in a book.”

The Bahá’í faith is one of the youngest independent religions in the world. According to Ng, it is also considered the most geographically distributed faith with around 8 million adherents around the world.

What sets the Bahá’í faith apart is its vision of a unified society. Bahá’ís believe that all the world’s major religions come from the same divine source and that each has contributed to the evolution of human civilization. Other principles of the faith include the elimination of prejudice, the equality of women and men, and the harmony of science and religion.

Roger Nesbit, a member of the Satori Men’s Chorus, has been a Bahá’í for over 50 years. He explained his journey finding the faith in college, reading Bahá’u’lláh’s writings and feeling a connection to the beliefs.

“One of the things is it opens up the whole world’s sacred literature because Bahá’ís believe it all comes from God,” Nesbit said. “And so there’s no point in comparing … because if all the religions are saying the same thing, there’s a better chance that that’s probably true.”

Central to the Bahá’í faith are the ideas of universal education and the independent investigation of the truth.

“We’re all educated, we have access to direct holy writings,” Ng said. “We read, we study and we come to our own conclusions of what’s true and what’s not.”

There are also no sects or divisions since the Bahá’í faith is the same all around the world, explained Ng. The leaders of each community are elected spiritual assemblies of nine, that only have authority as a group.

In Portland, the Bahá’í community is a small, but present force, actively engaging in the surrounding community. According to the website for the Portland/Vancouver Metro Bahá’í community, over 2,000 Bahá’ís live in Oregon.

The center, recently renovated, has space for community groups to gather and local artists to display their work. The community frequently holds workshops and interfaith dialogues in the center and is collecting canned goods for the St. Johns Food Bank.

The space is open to all and frequently collaborates with the St. Johns All Nations Church of God in Christ. Sunday devotionals are also held weekly at 10 a.m. in the center.

Ridvan celebrations will continue this week, with devotional services held at 10 a.m. on the ninth day, April 28, and at 7 p.m. the 12th day, May 1, in the Portland Bahá’í Center, 8720 N. Ivanhoe St. You can learn more about the Portland Bahá’í community here.

— Chiara Profenna covers religion, faith and cultural connections. Reach her at 503-221-4327; cprofenna@oregonian.com or @chiara_profenna

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