Local Baha’is celebrate the new year with festivities near Mill Creek

MILL CREEK — Everyone who entered the room for the night’s celebration passed a table set with a curious array of objects.

The apples symbolized fertility and beauty, the mirror wisdom and creativity. There were decorated eggs, a plateful of coins and a bowl with live goldfish.

The name for each item on the traditional Haft Sin table began with the letter “s” — not in English, but in Persian, the main language of Iran.

“It’s a culture we brought from back home,” said a Tehran native who now lives in Bothell. “This is to show a little bit of our Persian new year.”

Fragrant hyacinth flowers, spiced basmati rice and chords on a 12-string acoustic guitar suffused the Willis Tucker Park conference room on March 21.

Most of the dozens of people gathered there are members of the Baha’i faith. They were celebrating Naw-Ruz, a new year’s holiday observed by Baha’is and other religious groups around the time of the spring equinox.

The ancient tradition is common throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. It’s a time of fasting, of spring cleaning and of buying new clothes — generally of setting the tone for the year to come. Like Easter for Christians, it incorporates symbols of renewal.

As befits a religion that seeks to unify humanity, local Baha’is welcomed everyone to the local Naw-Ruz celebration.

The festivities began with prayers in English, Spanish, Arabic and Persian. People queued up for a potluck dinner and later hit the dance floor to the sound of pop music.

The Baha’i religion was founded in mid-19th-century Persia by Baha’u’llah. There are believed to be more than 5 million adherents today, present in almost every country in the world.

They recognize figures from other religious traditions as prophets, among them Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha and Krishna.

The religion emphasizes the equality of men and women. It opposes discrimination and places a high value on education.

If a Baha’i family is forced to choose between sending a boy or a girl to school, the preference is to send the girl. That’s because they consider mothers to be the first educators of children.

To explain her faith, Pegah Ouji, a 24-year-old woman who lives in Tacoma, quoted a passage from Abdu’l-Baha, the eldest son of the religion’s founder: “To be a Baha’i simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.”

Some local Baha’is are American-born, having converted as adults.

“I grew up very Catholic, played the church organ,” said Mary Ellen Wood, of Edmonds.

Wood found her new faith about 40 years ago, while a college student in Illinois.

Many local Baha’is, though, are religious refugees from the Islamic Republic of Iran, where they face fierce government persecution. Baha’is there cannot pursue higher education or have government jobs.

Badie, the woman from Bothell, came to the U.S. with her sister in 1989 to attend university, an opportunity that would have been denied to them in Iran.

Ouji also arrived in the U.S. with her family, in 2006, so she could pursue higher education.

“We wanted to send her to a private school and they wouldn’t accept her because of her religion,” said her father, Farzan Seilani, of Lynnwood.

Seilani said people of other faiths in Iran, including the majority Shia Muslims, also suffer persecution if they stray from the government line. Baha’is, however, face worse religious discrimination from the Islamic government than even Iran’s small communities of Jews and Christians, he said.

Seilani was a panelist for a screening of the documentary “To Light a Candle” earlier this month at Edmonds Community College. The film, by Iranian-Canadian director Maziar Bahari, depicts the plight of Baha’is in Iran. A website, www.educationisnotacrime.me, provides more information about their situation and a campaign to protect their human rights.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.