The Baha’i communities of Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City (in England’s leafy Hertfordshire, just north of London) jointly celebrated the Birthday of Baha’u'llah last night, guests of one of the Baha’is who has a beautiful and large home. Around 40 of us gathered for prayers, readings from the story of Baha’u'llah’s birth and early life, and food (of course!). Lashings of wonderful Persian food.

I have to say it was a bit like being in Tehran. Almost all those present were Iranians. Needless to say, once the food was finished, the music went on and one of the older men stood up to dance, Persian style. Now, because I had done some “mock Persian” dancing with this gentleman at a previous Holy Day gathering (it’s one of my party pieces - you’d better believe it), he insisted I stand up and dance again. But I was so full of food, I could hardly shift. I did a few steps, some twisting and turning, and some arm waving to oblige, but quickly sat down again.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Persian dancing, but it always looks to me to be about sexual pursuit. I mean, it’s highly suggestive dancing, usually done by a man and a woman who gyrate and circle around each other. So it has to be a bit questionable when two men dance together, doesn’t it?

Now, this gentleman (a senior gentleman, by the way, who is a wonderful dancer, light on his feet and elegant in his moves) and I hammed it up for all we were worth the last time we danced together, exaggerating the gyrations and hand-waving.

This always gets the Persian friends laughing.

Anyway, as I say, I didn’t really feel up to repeating my terpsichorean exploits of the previous holy day gathering last night. So I did a bit of perfunctory dancing and sat down again to digest.

I never sleep well after these celebrations. A combination of food, bakhlavar, chocolate cake and Persian tea keeps me awake or just dozing through the night.

But greed gets the better of me every time!

Happy Holy Day, all!

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