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“Let your vision be world embracing.”
- Bahá’u’lláh
The Baháʼí Calendar
The Bahá’í calendar, known as the Badí‘ calendar, was introduced by the Báb. Bahá’u’lláh confirmed and adopted this calendar, fixing its commencement at the year of the Báb’s declaration in 1844.
The calendar consists of 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of intercalary days known as Ayyám-i-Há.
The Báb named each of the 19 months after certain attributes of God, such as Jamál (Beauty), Núr (Light) and Sultán (Sovereignty).
The Bahá’í New Year (Naw-Rúz) is astronomically fixed, coinciding with the vernal equinox. In the Bahá’í calendar, a day starts at sunset. So if Naw-Rúz falls on the Gregorian date of 21 March, then it is marked from sunset on 20 March to sunset on 21 March.
The Bahá’í calendar is essentially a solar calendar, except for the observance of the Festival of the Twin Birthdays—the Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh—which moves year to year, taking place on the first and the second day following the occurrence of the eighth new moon after Naw-Rúz.
For more on the Bahá’í calendar, please see below or:
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access this helpful article Understanding Intercalary Days and the Bahai Calendar on bahaiteachings.org
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visit the Bahá’í Calendar section on www.bahai.org
Baháʼí Holy Days
There are nine Bahá’í Holy Days on which work, and education, is suspended, wherever possible. We have highlighted below some of the Holy Days which might be of most interest in the classroom.
There are four great festivals of the Bahá’í year. The two designated by Bahá’u’lláh as “the Most Great Festivals” are:
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the Festival of Riḍván, which commemorates Bahá’u’lláh’s Declaration of His Prophetic Mission in the Garden of Riḍván in Baghdád during twelve days in April/May 1863 and is referred to by Him as “the King of Festivals”
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the Báb’s Declaration, which occurred in May 1844 in Shíráz.
The first, ninth and twelfth days of the Festival of Riḍván are Holy Days, as is the day of the Declaration of the Báb.
The other two great Festivals are the anniversaries of the births of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, known as The Twin Holy Days or The Twin Birthdays.
The Four Great Festivals
The Festival of Riḍván when Bahá’u’lláh announced his Mission
The Declaration of the Báb
The Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh, known as The Twin Holy Days
The equivalent Gregorian dates are shown below. The timing of the Holy Days is fixed in the Baháʼí calendar but how they correspond to dates in the Gregorian calendar depends upon the timing of the equinox, which marks the start of the Baháʼí New Year. To check the Gregorian date equivalents in any Gregorian year, please refer to the Calendar section on www.bahai.org
