The Snowflake Chronicles

July 9, 1850

16 Rahmat 163 B.E. – July 9, 2006 A.D.

On July 9, 1850, in Tabriz, Persia (Iran) a firing squad executed the Bab. Today, Sunday, July 09, 2006, 156 years later I went to a commemoration of that event and I cried. I’m still attempting to sort out my feeling after today’s commemoration service. The prayers and scripture reading were spiritual, but there was more to the service. Passages from The Dawn Breakers were read in English while those same passages were projected on a T.V. screen. That doesn’t explain my reaction, that doesn’t explain the tears at the though of what happen in Tabriz that day. I’m not sure how to explain or even write about it at this point. I’ve attended a lot of Holy Day events since becoming a Baha’i over twenty years ago. I’ve never had this type of emotional reaction before. There were tears, but even memory of today’s commemoration brings tears.

My reaction is more then just the thought of what happened to the Bab and the young man who was executed with him. It’s more then the events surrounding the execution. I’m not even going to describe the events right now, I’m going to read that section of the Dawn Breakers again, pray and meditate. After I’ve read the account again and put it into my own words, then I’ll describe it and add other entries under the same title. I’m just too emotional to write about the event or even the commemoration right now.