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beliefs & practices
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beliefs & practices |
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BabismBaha'ism
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Baha'ismPracticesCalendar & FeastBaha’is follow a modified version of a calendar created by the Bab, sometimes referred to as the “Badi calendar” which is dated to have begun from the year of the Bab’s declaration (1844). It is a solar calendar beginning on the fall of the March equinox and the year is composed of nineteen months of nineteen days, each beginning at sunset. As well there is a period of four or five intercalary days which fall just before the month of fasting.78 The days and months are named after attributes of God which are as follows:
On the first day of every month, a Baha’i-only meeting known as a “Feast” is held. Shoghi Effendi formalised the structure of the Feast which consists of three main sections. First there is a devotional part in which prayers and passages from scriptures are read. Next there is a consultative section where the affairs of the local community are discussed. Finally there is a period of socialising and fellowship which usually involves sharing food and drink. Baha’is are discouraged from inviting non-Baha’is however if they do attend then the consultative section of the Feast is quietly dropped from the running order and the Feast becomes known as a “Unity Feast”. The local Assembly is responsible for the running of the Feast, however where there is no local Assembly, Baha’is may still meet and hold a Feast of their own.79 Every nineteen years constitutes a cycle known as vahid ‘unity’ and nineteen vahids make a kulli-shay’ ‘all things’. The years are named as follows:
Next > Baha'ism: Practices: Holy Days References78Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas 228. 79Smith,“Feast, nineteen day”, A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith 158. | ||||||||||||||||
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