Costa Rica
 Costa Rica |
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|---|---|---|
| Location of Costa Rica
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| National Assembly | Costa Rica | |
| Statistics: | ||
| Total Population | ||
| - | UN 2021[2] | 5,153,957 |
| Bahá'í pop. | ||
| - | Bahá'í source | 4,000[1] |
| - | Non-Bahá'í source | 15,901 |
| Localities | 30[1] | |
| History: Firsts |
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| - | Pioneers | Gayle Woolson, 1940[1] |
| - | Local Assembly | 1941, San José[1] |
| - | National Assembly | 1961[1] |
| Official Website | http://bahai.cr/ | |
 Related media
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| Categories: Costa Rica • People | ||
The Bahá'í Faith in Costa Rica begins when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá mentions it as one of the places Bahá'ís should take the religion to in 1919. However the first pioneers began to settle in Costa Rica in 1940,[3] followed quickly by the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly being elected in San José in April 1941.[4] The National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1961.[5] As of 2009 the national community includes various peoples and tribes and over 4,000 members organized groups in over 30 locations throughout the country.[1][3]
Pre-history[edit]
‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan[edit]
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan. The sixth of the tablets was the first to mention Latin American regions and was written on April 8, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. The sixth tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919.[6] After mentioning the need for the message of the religion to visit the Latin American countries ‘Abdu’l-Bahá continues:
... becoming severed from rest and composure of the world, [they] may arise and travel throughout Alaska, the republic of Mexico, and south of Mexico in the Central American republics, such as Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize...[7]
Following the Tablets and about the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's passing in 1921, a few other Bahá'ís began moving to, or at least visiting, Latin America.[4]
After World War I[edit]
In 1940 Mrs. Gayle Woolson came from the United States as the first pioneer to settle in Costa Rica.[1] A number of pioneers and converts elected the first local spiritual assembly in 1941. A regional National Spiritual Assembly for Central America in 1951. In 1961 Costa Rican Bahá'ís elected their own National Spiritual Assembly,[5] with its seat in Uruca.[3] A number of pioneers came and went over the period into the 1960s[4] while a pair of local assemblies were noted in 1963 in Escazu and San José.[8] In 1963 the members of the National Assembly were José Baltodano, Aaron J. Bames, Esteban Canales, Theodore Cortazzi, Jean Dobbs, Richard Mirkovich, John Rutan, Antonio Soto, and Fernando Soto.[9]
Modern community[edit]
Ruth (neé Yancey) Pringle is among the Bahá'ís who pioneered to Costa Rica, moving in 1953 and lived in various Latin American countries and served in various positions until she was named as a Continental Counsellors in 1980 and then she lived many of her last years in Costa Rica until she died in 2003.[10] Cecilia King Blake is among those that continued to arrive and lived there since the 1970s and is named as having an influence on the growth of the religion across Costa Rica and nearby countries.[11]
Demographics[edit]
The national community is made includes both citizens of the Central, Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limón provinces, and indigenous peoples Bribri, Cabecar and Guaymí. The community of Costa Rica has over 4,000 members according to the Bahá'ís and has organized communities in over 30 locations throughout the country.[3]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Los inicios de la Fe bahá'í en Costa Rica". Official Website of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Costa Rica. Comunidad Bahá'í de Costa Rica. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
- ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "La Comunidad Bahá'í en Costa Rica". Official Website of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Costa Rica. Comunidad Bahá'í de Costa Rica. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lamb, Artemus (November 1995). The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America:Some Remembrances, English Revised and Amplified Edition. West Linn, OR: M L VanOrman Enterprises.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hassall, Graham. "National Spiritual Assemblies: Lists and years of formation". Research notes. Bahá'í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
- ↑ Mirza Ahmad Sohrab and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (April 1919). Tablets, Instructions and Words of Explanation.
- ↑ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1991) [1916-17]. Tablets of the Divine Plan (Paperback ed.). Wilmette, IL: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 104. ISBN 0877432333.
- ↑ The Bahá'í Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963, Compiled by Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land, page 48.
- ↑ Rabbani, Ruhiyyih (Ed.) (1992). The Ministry of the Custodians 1957-1963. Bahá'í World Centre. p. 407. ISBN 0-85398-350-X.
- ↑ International Community, Bahá'í (2003-08-22), "Standing up for the oneness of humanity", Bahá'í World News Service
- ↑ Universal House of Justice (1986), "In Memorium", The Bahá'í World of the Bahá'í Era 136-140 (1979-1983), Bahá'í World Centre, XVIII: 723–4, ISBN 0853982341
External Links[edit]
