Some of you may have heard of the popular site Stuff White People Like. Apparently there is a blog called Stuff Christians Like and a book coming out with the same title. It got me wondering what a site or book about Stuff Baha'is Like would include. I'd love to hear your ideas or suggestions. Who knows maybe it could result in a new site or book!
Here are some thoughts
ReplyDeleteInterracial families
Interracial friendships
Hearing prayers in other languages
Singing together
Large group consultation
Persian Rugs
Persian Food
Ayyam-i-ha parties
Slideshows of the Holy Land
Hearing prayers recited by memory (especially by chilren)
Mention of Baha'i in mainstream media
Email Listserves
Baha'is like it when people of diverse backgrounds come together to fellowship.
ReplyDeleteblack tshirts with pictures of the world.
ReplyDeleteLectures with intense titles, travel anywhere, Baha'i jewelery, nine point star anything, their kids making friends with anybody not like them, smart young people who care about the world, Baha'i bookstores, pot lucks, anything Persian.
ReplyDeleteConsultation
ReplyDeleteTadik
Movies about diverse cultures
World music
Attar of rose
Talking about the universe
Happy families
Science
various artistic expressions of a nine-pointed star
ReplyDeleteInstitute process
ReplyDeletelike to teach others about the Faith
there's a lot of potential for material here :)
ReplyDeleteCan I just say, though, that I found something on Stuff Christians Like that I absolutely do, even though I call myself a Baha'i (I have a feeling I might find out I'm a Christian if I read enough of that site... j/k!).
It's saying "bless her heart" after gossiping about someone (here's the link: http://stuffchristianslike.net/2009/01/remix-2-saying-bless-her-heart/).
Now I thought this was a Southern thing, but maybe Christians from other parts of the country do it too. My point is just to wonder how much of these differences are regional, and how much are part of our religious culture... Then again, my impression is that much of American Christianity happens in the South, so maybe there's no good reason to separate the two.
For a Baha'i example, if I had lived in a certain New England city my whole Baha'i life, I might say one thing Baha'is like is fizzy water. But you will not find much of anyone drinking that in the South, Baha'i or not. And what about the rest of the world? What do Baha'is in (for example) Mongolia care about fizzy watter?
I hope lots of people post from different cultures, and maybe you can get a sense of this... which means I should post some things -- here goes:
drumming
group prayer
telling you about their friend from (insert far away nation here)
marrying someone from (insert far away nation here)
having bicultural children with their spouse from (insert far away nation here)
letting everyone speak their mind during meetings
Counting any star with more points than five to see if it has nine and then getting excited if it does.
ReplyDeleteThat bit about counting the tips of stars. Yes! I do it all the time! Almost always it is eight tips. But sometimes, nine! :)
ReplyDeleteGetting really excited about "famous" Baha'is like Rainn Wilson and Eva La Rue.
ReplyDeleteTea!
Encouraging smiles
Wearing Baha'i jewelry, t-shirts, and other
paraphernalia in hopes that someone asks about it.
Summer schools
Stories about how people found the Faith.
Potlucks!
ReplyDelete-- starting picnics and parties with prayers
ReplyDelete-- hugs when a handshake will do (US branch)
-- talking about religion (any religion)
-- genuine joy at someone's deep-held and pure-hearted faith (any faith)
-- we love it when someone's heard of us, even though we really shouldn't be that surprised anymore!
Trying to figure out the people you know in common ("Oh, you're from Texas? Do you know ____ and their family? They live in ___." "Oh, you're from Luxembourg? I have a friend there named ___, have you by any chance met them?")
ReplyDeleteVisiting people and having spiritual conversations with them!
Service. Anytime, anywhere.
onymous said...
ReplyDelete--Subjecting you to a Baha'i Geography quiz within the first five seconds of meeting you ("You're from NYC? Do you know Jack?" Which of course, you do.)
--If you're single, asking if you've considered marrying every Baha'i of the opposite sex within a nine-cluster radius who is within fifteen years of your age
--Pretending not to see their kids (or yours) running amok during Feast or a Holy Day celebration
--Using Baha'i listservs to promote their art/business projects or to find a job
--Friending people they don't know on FB just because they have 87 friends in common
--Inviting you to an activity and asking you, somewhat desperately, to "bring a friend"
--Completely overhyping your accomplishments while introducing you to friends by using the word "amazing" at least three times in one sentence
--Saying you look "luminous" or "radiant" just because you finally got a chance to run a comb through your hair in between core activities
BUT MOST OF ALL, Baha'is love when our efforts to serve the Faith, no matter how awkward or laboriously put forth, suddenly grow wings and ascend unto the heaven of celestial confirmations. And really, everything else is just window dressing--things we laugh at, but will ultimately have no lasting impact.
Liz W.
I'm not a Baha'i (yet), but I love Baha'is!
ReplyDeleteJustice! Unity! Swirled babies! Addas polo!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the contributors to this post. Seems that people are really having fun with it. I think we can do better though. There is much more Stuff that Baha'is Like.
ReplyDeleteGala Naw-Ruz and Birth of Baha'u'llah parties.
ReplyDeletegiving American children Persian names
ReplyDelete- Saying Allah-u-Abha upon meeting and leaving each other.
ReplyDelete- Being in awe of all Iranian people because they may have some blood connection to Baha'u'llah.
- Bombarding new 'seekers' with attention, trying to find a Baha'i parallel to every little thing that they say ('Oh that's interesting! The Baha'i teachings say the same thing!)"Ok...I was just saying that I like bread") :-)
- Being proud that non-Baha'i friends can recite Ruhi books without knowing it, because all of the material was passed onto them via stealth methods. "You like the blue sky? Oh...the "Sun of Truth..."
- The "far away" hug where only the upper half of the bodies embrace one another.
- Still getting excited that Seals and Crofts are Baha'is
Referring to other Baha'is as "friends"
ReplyDeleteBAHAI THOUGHT
ReplyDeletePersian Rice
Obligatory prayers
non obligatory prayers
Long Healing Prayer acoustic style(both versions) http://www.longhealingprayer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHHUKChEeno
SEEKERS
Friends
flowery language
lingustical mental gymnastics
fellowshipping with food
campaigns and ipg's
nifty calendars
SERVICE
cross cultural friends, family and food
treating folks of other ethnicities like royalty
MUSIC
Community
UNITY
{{{hugs}}}
books
translations
chant
prayers
progressive revelation
monotheism
PEACE ON EARTH...for real!
Haifa and the UHJ
SERVICE
~Ayesha
seeing people of different races, cultures, ethnicities together and happy.
ReplyDeleteCasserole dishes
ReplyDeleteExplaining that pilgrimage is impossible to describe.
Stories of incredible sacrifices, both past and present.
well, in the actual format of the original "Stuff White People Like", I think that this is my list:
ReplyDelete-Persian Rugs
-NPR
-The UN
-TED Talks
-International Relations degrees
-The Office (the Tv show)
-The Matrix (the movie, for its connection to a Baha'i quote about this world being like a matrix)
-Rainn Wilson
-Interracial marriages
-Dizzy Gillespie
-Seals and Crofts
-Barack Obama
-Racial unity events
-Facebook (for keeping tracks of hundreds of acquaintances all over the world--most Baha'is feel Facebook was created specifically for their needs)
-Skype (for the same reason--keep in touch with friends who live in Kazakhstan or Denmark for FREE!)
-Universities and any place of learning
-Israel
-Tadic (I have to repeat this submission from a previous commenter only because it's so strangely true)
-Tea
-Potlucks
There's more of that ilk, but I'm running low on ideas. In the book "stuff white people like" it's a lot of things like hardwood floors, master's degrees, NPR, etc. which, really, everyone likes, but it's funnier when you single out an idiosyncratic group of people, and Baha'is are lovably idiosyncratic.