pilgrims are gone

this group was the last pilgrim group for this season. now it will again be a bit empty over the summer (although it's been very hot for two months or so). it's special to have pilgrims coming here, they bring so much joy and happiness, and I'm really looking forward to them coming back, as I have quite many close friends in the first few groups coming.

here's a picture from sunday morning. a friend of mine was on his last shift, so I got up a bit earlier to hang out with him for a while:


I really like the bright blue colors of the sky early in the morning. it was a really beautiful sunset as well, but unfortunately I wasn't able to take any good shots, was busy eating breakfast :)

random events happening again

I thought these random coincidences had stopped happening, after being almost five months since last time. this all happened the day before yesterday.

one of my friends whom I was on pilgrimage with last year, suddenly wrote to me and said "this and this person are here on pilgrimage right now". I checked up the list, and sure, they were here, but with two days to go, how would I ever be able to find them among 400 other pilgrims?

I asked her what they looked like, but went for the day before I got the reply. in the evening I went to the pilgrim talk, hoping that maybe I would be able to see them there. as the auditorium was full, I went and listened to the presentation via video link. now at the end of it, pilgrims were invited up to share experiences from their home communities. the second to last person happened to be one of the friends that I was looking for. however, since the camera was fixed upon the speaker, I couldn't see her, and when I asked another pilgrim friend that was there, he didn't remember what she looked like... after the talk, I tried looking at the pilgrims' name badges, to maybe have some major amount of luck. but no.

so I decided to go down with another group of people to just sit and chill at a café. after walking down the terraces, we join up with a group, bring a chair, and I sit down next to two pilgrims, a couple. we introduce ourselves, I ask them where they're from, and suddenly I just start shaking my head in disbelief. lo and behold, it's them! trying to look for them the whole evening didn't help, but suddenly sitting down at a random café, they're there! so I spent some time talking to them, until it was time to go home to sleep... :)

sweet reunions!

I was on pilgrimage almost 12 years ago, in april '96. besides my brother, I only remember hanging out with one other person during that time. and back then there weren't really all these opportunities to keep in contact with people, but somehow we managed to stay in touch on and off, first through random e-mails here and there, later on through msn and eventually facebook. and now, he came here on a 3-day visit (as his wife was on pilgrimage), and we managed to meet up:


to his great surprise (and mine too actually), I had even kept the pieces of paper that he wrote down his name, e-mail and website address on. after almost 12 years, they were still intact and whole! (of course I knew he was going to come here when I was here, hence why I brought it with me.) cool stuff, so I gave them to him to remember :)

who knows, maybe we'll meet up again in 10-12 years on pilgrimage, maybe with small kids running around?

and then I also had the joy of seeing my cousin from australia, together with his wife and kids. haven't seen them since my visit there in 2002, and the kids have really grown since then - barely recognized them!


hopefully I can go down under sometime soon, really miss everyone there! would be a great vacation :)

check the album for more shots of people.

oh, dangerous!

more pilgrims, more chocolate... it seems to be a trend, and I can't really say I'm complaining. this time it's from one of the friends that we were on pilgrimage with 6 months ago, who sent it through a friend to another friend who sent it to me. you follow?

well, this one is belgian, and smells so good. I'm sure it's absolutely dangerous, but I want to try it out first and then find out ;)

I just sent my prayer book to new zealand

that's probably one of the most random things ever. now why did I do that?

a friend of a friend is working on an art project, which is centered around the theme of Baha'i pilgrimage. for this, he's going to make an art installation containing prayer books from all over the world, similar to this suitcase outside the Shrine of the Báb:


being able to gather all this up will be a demonstration of a spiritual unity among the Baha'is all over the world. I think it sounds like an incredibly cool project, and it would be very exciting to see how many he's able to gather up. hopefully mine will make it in time :)

a special day, and a Holy Day

the second day of pilgrimage started with a visit to the Holiest of places, the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. as the Guardian wrote: "Public access to the heart of the Qiblih of the Bahá'í World is now made possible through traversing the sacred precincts leading successively to the Holy Court, the outer and inner sanctuaries, the Blessed Threshold and the Holy of Holies."

two pictures, first of the surrounding gardens, and then of the Shrine:

     
(the entire album is here)

entering the Shrine is an indescribable feeling, the sense of calmness and serenity is overwhelming. being so close to the Holiest place on earth just gives a very special feeling in the body. it's as if time completely stops, and there is nothing else that matters the least. and the rose scent in there is also very soothing.

after having the time and opportunity to say prayers in the Shrine, we had a lunch at the pilgrim's center, and then went by bus back to haifa. it was time to meet the members of the Universal House of Justice.

the reception took place in the seat, with all the pilgrims gathered, sitting and waiting. once the members arrived, a prayer was said, and one of the members held a welcoming speech for us all. after that we all stood up as they went around and greeted everyone. we got to talk with mr dunbar (who is half-swedish), got a standing ovation from mr barnes (since we were from sweden), and a short chat as well with mr grossman (from finland).

to give a bit of perspective, these are members of the supreme body of the Faith, they are the ones with the "power". and here they are, walking around among 400 people, without any security, lifeguards, etc. and they are joyously greeting everyone, talking to all the pilgrims and personally welcoming each and every one of us. I don't see that happening anywhere else...


after the welcoming we had some time off, as in the evening/night it was the commemoration of the ascension of Baha'u'llah. it started at around 22, so in the meantime I went to the library and read a bit, took a stroll up the terraces and got ready for the evening. we had a good dinner, where we met up with naysan and nahid. I had a lovely fresh mint drink. then we got a ride back down to the pilgrim center, where the buses were waiting for us.

we got there at around 23, and started by visiting the mansion where Baha'u'llah stayed the last days of His life, and also made a visit to the room where He passed away. a very personal, solemn moment.

the program was scheduled for 3 am, so we had some time to walk around in the gardens, socialize with each other and take pictures. here's one that I took:


in the visitors' center there were both pilgrims and staff members, and some tea and cookies to eat. it was a nice mixture of people from all backgrounds mingling in joyful harmony. and even though it was the night of ascension, there was much laughter to be heard.

at 2.45 we went out, as everyone was asked to be seated no later than 2.55. the program started at 3 am sharp, with hundreds of chairs being put in rows, all facing the Shrine. prayers were read in english, persian and arabic, and it created a very spiritual atmosphere, which only the mosquitoes tried to interfere with.

when the program was done, we got up to circumambulate the Shrine. I tried to take my time and really walk slowly around, meditating upon this very special moment. it felt really wonderful to be able to be out there at 4 am, with no sound being heard, nothing but your own thoughts and footsteps...

the buses were waiting to take us back, and at 5 am I finally crashed in bed, after a long but very special day.

so the story begins...

(this is about the first day of pilgrimage)

we got up, had our breakfast, and went to terrace 19. just like the day before, we couldn't enter the terraces, so we took the way around, which resulted in this pic:


just to know where we're heading...

get down to the pilgrim reception center to register, and we're given a program and some papers and booklets with information. the first program point was a short walk to the office of public information, where we were shown a short video about pilgrimage.
before coming, a friend of mine had told me that I'd be seeing a guy named ian here, who I was supposed to have met a few years earlier in a youth conference. unfortunately, I could for my life not remember how he looked like, but to my luck there was a picture of him (together with 3 girls, hmmm... ;)) in the presentation and as soon as I saw it I said to myself "ah! that's ian!". definitely saved me there!

after the short presentation we went back to the reception center and had a lunch. to our great surprise, two more friends walk in, with invitations to their wedding. hadn't seen her for two years, and him - first time :)

so lunch finished, and it was time to officially start the pilgrimage. we walked up to the gardens outside the Shrine of the Báb for the recitation of the Tablets of Visitation for Baha'u'llah and the Báb and the one for 'Abdu'l-Bahá. when this was done, we circumambulated the Shrine, and then had to wait for a while until they cleaned up and prepared the Shrines for us to go say our prayers there for the first time. to try and get ready for it, I went and sat on the stairs in the gardens.

as I said before, I felt that I hadn't prepared enough for my pilgrimage. and I really felt it as I got there. I had a hard time grasping that I was really there, and why I was there... when the Shrine was opened, I felt an irresistible urge to go in, so I went and prepared myself (washed my hands and face, and left my stuff in the pilgrim house) and then went in.

to this day, I still don't know which prayer was the first one I said in there, all I remember is the feeling I had. all in all, it was one of the most sincere and honest prayer sessions I had, a very special one, that really helped me get into the "pilgrimage mood".

after the prayers and dinner it was time for the first talk for pilgrims. these talks are usually held by members of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme legislative organ of the Faith, or by members of the International Teaching Centre in the evenings. however, on the first day we had the blessing and privilege of having Dr. Alí-Muhammad Varqá, the last of the Hands of the Cause living to welcome us and remind us again what a special bounty and honor it is to be received as a pilgrim in the Holy Land. it was a lovely speech to hear, and very heartwarming.

the talk ended at around 8 or so, and we decided to take a walk down the terraces, my brother and our friendly staff member. going down at night meant that there was the opportunity to take some artistic pictures without having to worry about anything else. this resulted in some quite nice pictures, such as these:

      
(for more pictures, click here)

we walked all the way down the terraces, off to hamegenim (a street way off of any resemblance of civilization ;)) to drop our friend off, and then took a cab back home. good day!

it all started at the airport...

... and somehow continued all the way.

we got up saturday morning to get going, and after quite an uneventful trip we arrived to tel aviv airport. last time I was there, 2 years ago, I barely got out of the plane before I heard the words "sir, can you please step aside". naturally, due to how I looked, they wanted to make sure I was not dangerous. got asked why I was there, etc. and then I also got stopped as I had gotten my luggage and was on my way out to the arrival hall. this was in addition to the passport control.

naturally, I expected something similar this time. however, that did not really happen... didn't get stopped or anything outside the airplane, passport control went smoothly, and after the luggage was picked up and we were on our way out, the only thing that happened was this slightly strange conversation:
- security girl (checking my passport): where are you born?
- me: sweden
- security girl: israel?
- me: no, sweden
- security girl (returning my passport): okay

and then we just walked out. I was expecting a whole lot more. it took us about 30 minutes from arrival until we had our luggage and were out at the entrance hall. needless to say I was surprised.

since we were out at ~15.30, and couldn't get into haifa until 21, there was some time to kill at the airport. to my great surprise, a crazy friend showed up at around that time, to keep us company. we had talked about meeting up at the airport, but due to sabbath, there were no trains coming, so we sorta blew the idea off. luckily, she got a ride with a friend who was coming to pick someone else up :)

so as we're sitting there, talking, chatting, having fun, etc, we see a couple of other half-lost people walking around, and figure out that they must also be Baha'is. talk to a few, ask where they're from and such, and suddenly the greatest coincidence ever happens. I had heard from a dutch friend who's currently in india that one of her friends who'd been serving with her there for a while was going to be in the same pilgrim group as us. she told me her name, but I had sorta forgotten about it and didn't really think I'd see her, especially not on the first day.
so what happens? this girl walks by, we ask if she's a Baha'i, we introduce ourselves, and I guess you can realize who she is... so after the usual "wow, what a surprise, how are you?" etc, she suddenly says "I have a letter here, does anyone of you happen to be borna?"
she presents me with this letter from my two friends in india that she's been carrying around with her for almost 3 months, brought to more than 10 countries (she recounted them), and now finally found the recipient for it. a great surprise to say the least. I was asked to "hide in the closet" when I was going to open and read the letter, so naturally I couldn't open it there, neither retell what was in there... :)

so at around 21.30 we got to our hotel, checked in, and took it a bit easy. we went out to check out if there were any restaurants open, found a sandwich place and had some delicious sandwiches. took a walk down to the top of the terraces, couldn't be let in since we had no pilgrimage badges, so just stood out there, took a few pictures, and talked to the security guard up there. it was a nice chat, but eventually it was time to go back to bed and get ready for the next day, the first day of pilgrimage.


- - - - -

that's the first day, and pilgrimage hasn't even started... I hope you found it interesting to read, and I'll try to keep the rest coming in steadily. now I'm off to bed!

pictures, pictures, pictures!

I finally went through the pictures and uploaded them all. they're up on facebook, but you can find them here as well:

The Arc	Shrine of the Báb	Bahji
Monument Gardens	Terraces	People, part 1
People, part 2	Flowers	Artistic pictures
Burst shots	Other places	Haifa shots

a few notes on the pictures:
there are some duplicates, most notably in the artistic/people category. pictures are taken by me, my brother and a couple of other friends. I could've put basically all pictures in the artistic section, but tried to keep it to a minimum to those pictures that were taken with the intention of being especially artistic. the burst shots is an attempt to see how it will look like. I will put captions and tag people later, as well as upload some movies. for now, just enjoy :)

a few short notes on pilgrimage

going on pilgrimage is a very personal, spiritual and, in many ways, life-changing experience. it is very difficult to explain it in words... but I will try anyways. with 10 days of experiences to share, it might take a bit of time to go through it all. hopefully I will be able to write it up in 5 posts (2 days per post).

I cannot say that my life has completely changed, but I have definitely been able to change the focus on some things. one of the most challenging things is to keep the spirit of pilgrimage up, as the instant I left sight of the Shrines, buildings and terraces, I felt that something within me faded just so slightly. no wonder that everyone who goes there instantly wants to go back, and I'm in no ways different...

pilgrimage is a time of prayer and meditation, joy and laughter, experiences and surprises. and I can assure you there was plenty of it all. stay tuned for more!

and I'm back

a lot of experiences richer, and two kilos lighter. will take a while to sort out my pictures (got 500+ of them), but hope to be able to have them up together with a long account of things by the end of the week.

preparing for pilgrimage

on saturday morning, I will be leaving to go to israel, on pilgrimage. going on pilgrimage is a very special thing, a spiritual journey... and I don't feel prepared :(

naturally it is impossible to fully prepare for such a thing, but right now I feel that there's been so much going on that I haven't even had time to think about what's going to happen. all I know is that when I leave here on friday evening (going to my parents to stay the night), I'll have nothing else to worry about. I think when I get there I'll probably get more "into" it, but I'm hoping that I will be able to spend some time to actually get ready for it.

pilgrimage doesn't happen too often (last time was in '96), as there are usually many people from all over the world and one has to wait for about 5 years since last time after applying again. and then wait in line... there's of course the possibility of going on a 3-day visit, and last time I did that was in 2005. really loved it back then.

I did get to read a bit of the book Baha'i Pilgrimage while in norway:


although I only got about halfways through it, it was definitely a good start to things. I'm really looking forward to going, it's going to be great to be able to forget about all the worldly things and feel closer to God, praying in the Shrines and visiting all the Holy Places. I just hope the difference won't be too big when I come back...

I have my camera, going to take lots of pictures, and then hope to be able to put some sort of presentation or slideshow when I get back, possibly even at work. we'll see :)