Holy days

Baha'i Calendar Redux

zodiac

The Bahá’í Calendar, arguably the least lunar calendar there is, has recently been given a lunar calculation of its own. Because the founders of the Bábí and Bahá’í religions were reported to have been born a day apart on the Islamic calendar (though two years apart), the Bahá’í leaders in Israel figured it would be nice to make this happen on their calendar. To do this, they marked the 8th new moon after No-Rúz in Tehran as the one most likely to be close to the time of year when the two prophets were born, and then had one prophet’s birth commemorated on the first day after that new moon and the other prophet’s birth commemorated on the day after that.

The commemorations will no longer occur on the actual dates of birth on the solar cycle (October 20 and November 12) or even the Islamic calendar, but rather, they will take place on different dates from year to year, as is done with Easter and Good Friday.

Calendars are an important tool for scheduling our activities. A farmer might use a solar calendar to plan a harvest. A Bedouin might use a lunar calendar to plan a journey across the desert. Many calendars are a hybrid between solar and lunar so that they can be used in accord with seasonal and lunar cycles. The Gregorian calendar, for instance, is precisely calculated to remain synchronized with the seasons. It is not so precise with respect to lunar cycles, each of its months being about a day too long to keep pace with the phases of the moon. Still, a Gregorian month can be used to loosely approximate a lunar month.

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150 Years of Ridvan and Counting: Celebrating Like a Baha'i

{josquote}...this year we’re going on a twelve-day luxury cruise to Baghdad.{/josquote}

“Going anywhere special for The Festival this year?”

“Usually we spend Paradise at home, but this year we’re going on a telve-day luxury cruise to Baghdad.”

“Really? Oh, I’m jealous. My husband just can’t miss the Ridvan golf junket in Las Vegas, so it’s going to be more reading and pomegranate tea by the pool for me…”

No, I haven’t heard many conversations like this at devotionals or reflection meetings, either! (And aren’t we lucky? Our Holy Days still focus on the holy part.) Still, it is the Most Great Festival, and who knows what it will be in futures that more or less distantly shine in our imaginations? As with the 19 Day Feast, so with Ridvan: we have only the barest notion of how to celebrate them. As with everything, we’re learning, and nothing stops our education more quickly than the thought that we know how to celebrate our festivals and nineteen-day spiritual gatherings. They will be “unimaginably glorious”, as the Guardian might have said, but for now we do the best we can.

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A Baha’i New Year

A happy Baha’i New Year to all piglets!

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to attend a party in celebration of the Baha’i ‘intercalary days’. These are the ‘leftover’ days at the end of the Baha’i calendar and are celebrated much the same as we celebrate the New Year, but with little, or no alcohol… The celebration was a real family event, and all the kids had a ball playing in the pool while the adults sat around eating all the wonderful food which was provided by the hosts and some of the guests; chatting and generally enjoying each others company and a pleasantly warm afternoon. These are genuinely very friendly people and I had some very pleasant conversations with people I’d never even met before.

The party’s entertainment began with the dancers in the pictures, whose names I sadly omitted to ask (Jeez, I’d never make a journalist! I must try to do better next time!). This was followed by my young musician friend, whose name I have difficulty remembering because I have difficulty pronouncing it! After this I played a few songs myself and finally, after dark, we ate corn on the cob, Persian style: roasted over a bonfire in the garden then dipped in saltwater, before gifts were given prior to everyone going home.

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Naw-ruz potluck ideas

Happy new year! My congratulations to all my Baha’i readers for surviving another Fast.

Naw-ruz was probably my favorite Baha’i holiday. I was always relieved the fasting was over. It wasn’t just the going hungry and thirsty. It was the waking up before sunrise, and the having to give up snacking (something I’m very fond of).

One thing about Naw-ruz though… It seems like non-Baha’is who celebrate it have a lot more going on than the Baha’is do. It’s not just the “Seven S’s” table, which I never saw in my 9 Naw-ruzes as a Baha’i, even at Persian homes. Apparently Iranians also have this jolly fellow to spread Naw-ruz cheer. Not quite an Ayyam-i-Ha Camel, but hey. And the best part about non-Baha’i Naw-ruz is, you jump over fire.

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Waiting for the World to End

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It’s certainly been an exciting weekend!

Around the world, on May 22, Baha’is celebrated the anniversary of the Declaration of the Bab. The Bab was a Messenger of God whose mission was to prepare humanity for the message of Baha’u'llah. The story of the Bab’s life and mission is dramatic and emotion-stirring – filled with persecution, difficulty and, ultimately, triumph. The Bab foretold the coming of a Divine Teacher with a message even greater than His own. Although the Bab’s faith was a religion in itself, the Declaration of the Bab reminds Baha’is of the exciting and remarkable historical events that provided the context for the mission of Baha’u'llah.

The other remarkable historical event that happened this 22 May – or was meant to happen but didn’t – is one that has captured the imagination of many since time immemorial: the end of the world.

Okay, so May 22 has come and gone and the world looks very much the same as it did on May 21. Hilarity ensues.

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