Baha'i Faith, Washington DC

 In 1912, `Abdu'l-Bahá—the son of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith - visited Howard University’s Rankin Chapel. There, He spoke before a diverse audience, outlining a vision for racial unity and the elimination of prejudices. Please join us for prayers and reflections, providing inspiration for continuing a legacy of working for unity. You can find directions here.

On February 9th, members of the DC Bahá'í community participated in the first-ever DC Young Adult Faith Leaders Summit. This interfaith gathering brought together representatives from numerous religious communities throughout the region to learn about each other's traditions, share experiences mobilizing their peers for community service, and strategize about how to more effectively work together across faith lines.

From The Smithsonian's blog 'Around The Mall':

In 1945, the Department of State held a competition to create an official Spanish translation of the National Anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” using the original score. Because Spanish translations tend to be at least one and a half times the length of English originals, it was a daunting task. Other translations had already been done, according to Marvette Perez, curator of Latino History at the American History Museum, but none had successfully remained faithful to the anthem’s music and composition.

Enter Clotilde Arias, a Peruvian immigrant, composer and copywriter, who was dedicated to the Pan-American movement. Her winning entry became the official U.S. Spanish translation, but the work represented just a microcosm of a vast lifetime output from a woman, born in the Amazon River Basin who later not only became successful writing jingles and slogans on Madison Avenue but also became a musician, a journalist, an activist and an educator. Now largely forgotten, her incredible journey is the subject of a new American History Museum exhibit, “Not Lost in Translation: The Life of Clotilde Arias.”

Please join the DC Baha'i Community in celebrating the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh.  The celebration will be held on Sunday, November 11th, at 5:00 pm at the All Soul's Unitarian Church - Pierce Hall in NW (1500 Harvard St NW, Washington, DC 20009).  Please plan to arrive by 5:00 pm as we will begin promptly at 5:15 pm.