Bahá'í Calendar, Festivals, and Dates of Historic Significance

                                               CONTENTS
VIII. BAHA'I CALENDAR, FESTIVALS AND DATES OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE  
       0. Updated calendar, 2014
       1. Foreword.............................................................................. 598  
       2. Bahá'í Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting...................................... 598  
       3. Bahá'í Holy Days on which Work should be Suspended.................................... 599  
       4. Additional Material gleaned from Nabíl's Narrative regarding the Bahá'í Calendar...... 599  
       5. Historical Data gleaned from Nabíl's Narrative regarding Bahá'u'lláh.................. 602  
       6. Dates of Historical Significance in the Rise of the Bahá'í Faith...................... 606  

2014 Update

the following document was not in the 1986 Bahá'í World, but is included here for clarity;
see more at uhj_badi_calendar_2014

VIII
BAHÁ'Í CALENDAR, FESTIVALS AND DATES OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

1. FOREWORD

AMONG different peoples and at different times many different methods have been adopted for the measurement of time and fixing of dates, and several different calendars are still in daily use, e.g., the Gregorian in Western Europe, the Julian in many countries of Eastern Europe, the Hebrew among the Jews and the Muhammadan in Muslim countries.

The Báb signalized the importance of the dispensation He came to herald by inaugurating a new calendar.In this, as in the Gregorian Calendar, the lunar month is abandoned and the solar year is adopted.

The Bahá'í year consists of 19 months of 19 days each (i.e., 361 days), with the addition of certain `intercalary days' (four in ordinary and five in leap years) between the eighteenth and nineteenth months in order to adjust the calendar to the solar year. The Báb named the months after the attributes of God. The Bahá'í New Year, like the ancient Persian New Year, is astronomically fixed, commencing at the March equinox (21 March), and the Bahá'í era commences with the year of the Báb's declaration (i.e., 1844 A.D., 1260 A.H.).

In the not far distant future it will be necessary that all peoples in the world agree on a common calendar.

It seems, therefore, fitting that the new age of unity should have a new calendar free the the objections and associations which make each of the older calendars unacceptable to large sections of the world's population, and it is difficult to see how any other arrangement could exceed in simplicity and convenience that proposed by the Báb.

2. BAHÁ'Í FEASTS, ANNIVERSARIES AND DAYS OF FASTING

Feast of Náw-Rúz (New Year), 21 March.

Declaration of the Báb, 23 May 1844.

The Day of the Covenant, 26 November.

Birth of Bahá`u'lláh, 12 November 1817.

Birth of the Báb,20 October 1819.

Birth of `Abdu'l-Bahá, 23 May 1844.

Ascension of Bahá`u'lláh, 29 May 1892.

Martyrdom of the Báb, 9 July 1850.

Ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá, 28 November 1921.

Fasting season lasts 19 days beginning with the first day of the month of `Alá', 2 March --the Feast of Náw-Rúz follows immediately after.

3. BAHÁ'Í HOLY DAYS ON WHICH WORK SHOULD BE SUSPENDED

4. ADDITIONAL MATERIAL GLEANED FROM NABÍL'S NARRATIVE REGARDING THE BAHÁ'Í CALENDAR

¹ (i.e., 1260 A.H.)

of the Badí` Calendar. As in that year, the day of Náw-Rúz, the vernal Equinox, preceded by sixty-six days the date of the Declaration of the Báb, I have therefore, throughout my history, regarded the Náw-Rúz of the year sixty-one A.H. (the Náw-Rúz immediately following the Declaration of the Báb) as the first Náw-Rúz of the Badí` Calendar. I have accordingly considered the Náw-Rúz of this present year, the year 1306 A.H., which is the 47th solar year after the Declaration of the Báb, as the 46th Náw-Rúz of the Badí` Calendar.

Soon after Bahá`u'lláh had left the fortress of `Akká and was dwelling in the house of Malik, in that city, He commanded me to transcribe the text of the Badí` Calendar and to instruct the believers in its details. On the very day in which I received His command, I composed, in verse and prose, an exposition of the main features of that Calendar and presented it to him.The versified copy, being now unavailable, I am herein transcribing the version in prose. The days of the week are named as follows:

The names of the months, which are the same as the days of each month, are as follows:

The first day of each month is thus the day of Bahá, and the last day of each month the day of `Alá'.

The Báb has regarded the solar year, of 365 days, 5 hours, and fifty odd minutes, as consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of certain intercalary days. He has named the New Year's Day, which is the day of Náw-Rúz, the day of Bahá, of the month of Bahá. He has ordained the month of `Alá' to be

the month of fasting, and has decreed that the day of Náw-Rúz should mark the termination of that period. As the Báb did not specifically define the place for the four days and the fraction of a day in the Badí` Calendar, the people of the Bayán were at a loss as to how they should regard them.The revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in the city of `Akká resolved this problem and settled the issue. Bahá`u'lláh designated those days as the Ayyám-i-Há and ordained that they should immediately precede the month of `Alá', which is the month of fasting. He enjoined upon His followers to devote these days to feasting, rejoicing, and charity. Immediately upon the termination of these intercalary days, Bahá`u'lláh ordained the month of fasting to begin. I have heard it stated that some of the people of the Bayán, the followers of Mírzá Yahyá, have regarded these intercalary days as coming immediately after the month of `Alá', thus terminating their fast five days before the day of Náw-Rúz.This, notwithstanding the explicit text of the Bayán which states that the day of Náw-Rúz must needs be the first day of the month of Bahá, and must follow immediately after the last day of the month of `Alá'. Others, aware of this contradiction, have started their fasting on the fifth day of the month of `Alá', and included the intercalary days within the period of fasting.

Every fourth year the number of the intercalary days is raised from four to five. The day of Náw-Rúz falls on the 21st of March only if the vernal Equinox precedes the setting of the sun on that day. Should the vernal Equinox take place after sunset, Náw-Rúz will have to be celebrated on the following day.

The Báb has, moreover, in His Writings revealed in the Arabic tongue, divided the years following the date of His Revelation into cycles of nineteen years each. The names of the years in each cycle are as follows:

Each cycle of nineteen years is called a Váhid. Nineteen cycles constitute a period called Kull-i-Shay'. The numerical value of the word Váhid is nineteen, that of Kull-i-Shay' is 361. Váhid signifies unity, and is symbolic of the unity of God.

The Báb has, moreover, stated that this system of His is dependent upon the acceptance and good-pleasure of `Him Whom God shall make manifest'. One word from Him would suffice either to establish it for all time, or to annul it forever.

For instance, the date of the 21st of April, 1930, which is the first day of Ridván, and which according to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas must coincide with the `thirteenth day of the second Bahá'í month,' and which fell this year (1930) on Monday, would, according to the system of the Badí` Calendar, be described as follows: `The day of Kamál, the day of Qudrat, of the month of Jalál, of the year Baháj, of the fifth Váhid, of the first Kull-i-Shay'.'

5. HISTORICAL DATA GLEANED FROM NABÍL'S NARRATIVE REGARDING BAHÁ'U'LLÁH

P603

1. Kúchik-Chakmachih (3 hours from Constantinople--spent one night)

2. Búyúk-Chakmachih (arrived about noon)

3. Salvarí 4. Birkás 5. Bábá-Iskí

1. Uzún-Kuprí

2. Káshánih (Arrived about noon. Lawh-i-Ra'ís [Tablet of Ra'ís] was reveaed in this place)

3. Gallipoli (length of journey from Adrianople to Gallipoli about 4 days)

(after a few days' stay sailed before noon in Austrian steamer for Alexandria, Egypt)

4. Madellí (arrived about sunset--left at night)

5. Smyrna (stayed 2 days, left at night)

6. Alexandria (arrived in the morning, trans-shipped and left at night for Haifa)

7. Port Said (arrived morning, left same day at night)

8. Jaffa (left at midnight)

9. Haifa (arrived in the morning, landed and after a few hours left on a sailing vessel for `Akká)

6. DATES OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN THE RISE OF THE BÁHÁ'Í FAITH

picture at Bottom of the Page with the Caption: Stairs leading to the main rooms of the House of `Abdu'lláh Páshá; 1983.