The Baha'i Calendar:

arthra

arthra

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Bahá'í Calendar:

The day begins at sunset in the Bahá'í calendar.

In the Bahá'í calendar, each year has 19 months of 19 days each.

Extra or "intercalary" days are added to ensure a full solar year -- four in most years for a 365-day year, and five in leap years for a 366-day year.

Each month has an Arabic name denoting an attribute of God.

The months are listed below, with the English translation of each name and the Gregorian date that corresponds with the first day of each Bahá'í month.

Bahá (Splendor), March 21
Jalál (Glory), April 9
Jamál (Beauty), April 28
'Azamat (Grandeur), May 17
Núr (Light), June 5
Rahmat (Mercy), June 24
Kalimát (Words), July 13
Kamál (Perfection), August 1
Asmá' (Names), August 20
'Izzat (Might), September 8
Mashíyyat (Will), September 27
'Ilm (Knowledge), October 16
Qudrat (Power), November 4
Qawl (Speech), November 23
Masá'il (Questions), December 12
Sharaf (Honor), December 31
Sultán (Sovereignty), January 19
Mulk (Dominion), February 7
(Ayyám-i-Há or Intercalary Days, February 26–March 1, fall between the months of Mulk and 'Ala'.)
'Ala' (Loftiness), month of fasting, March 2
 
Quite interesting, a few questions.

Do you know what instigated a need for a change from the existing calendar?

Baha is splendor....is the i in bahai a suffix? What does Bahai mean?

Any knowledge of why start on the equinox?

Any info as to why the added days fall between Dominion and Loftiness?

Is 19 and or numerology significant to Bahai?

thanx for what I know from the past will be informed and informative responses...
 
Questions from Wil...

From

wil;244613]

Quite interesting, a few questions.

Do you know what instigated a need for a change from the existing calendar?

My reply:

There are many existing calendars even today.. If you look back historically each dispensation has had it's own calendar. The Badi or Baha'i calendar was initiated primarily by the Bab Himself and supplemented by Baha'u'llah.

Baha is splendor....is the i in bahai a suffix? What does Bahai mean?

Reply:

A Baha'i is a follower of Baha'u'llah.. Baha can mean splendour or Glory and in the case of the Baha'i month refers to an attribute of God, i.e., splendour.

Any knowledge of why start on the equinox?

Reply:

Naw-Ruz is the ancient Iranian New Year.. Nature flowers in spring... as opposed to say the dead of winter.

Any info as to why the added days fall between Dominion and Loftiness?

Reply:

The days of Ha: Ayyam-i-Ha can be four in a regular year and five in a leap year. They are also days of fun before our Fast.

Is 19 and or numerology significant to Bahai?

The Bab designated 19 as a Vahid or Unity.. Every nineteen years has a special designation in our calendar.

Numerology is not practised by Baha'is.

thanx for what I know from the past will be informed and informative responses...

Your welkommen!
 
Hi!

I see Art answered most of your questions already, so I'll just add a few supplements:

"Baha" is indeed "splendor" or "glory" (we usually call it the latter), and the suffix forms the adjective, so that "Baha'i" literally means "of Glory."

Numerology isn't particularly a Baha'i practice, but it's a very big part of Persian culture and the Persian language because the same letters are used both for sounds and as numbers (Greek is like this, too).

Because of this, ANY Persian word also has a numeric equivalent, and this leads to all sorts of word-plays and number-plays in that language!

A good example (and one you can find in the Baha'i scriptures) is that the Persian for the city of Eidirne (or Adrianople), where Baha'u'llah was exiled, has the same numeric value as the Persian word for "mystery"; because of this, the city is sometimes referred to as "the city of mystery."

The word "Baha" has the numeric value nine (2+1+5+1), and so nine has great significance in Baha'i symbology (such as the nine-pointed star's being a symbol of the Faith).

Nine is also the largest value (in the conventional decimal system) expressible as a single digit; it's therefore sometimes used as a symbol for unity.

These two are the reason why, for example, all Baha'i temples are constructed with nine sides. (You may occasionally hear that it's because there are nine living great religions, but this is mistaken: that's purely a coincidence and has nothing to do with our temples.)

As to why a new calendar for the Baha'i Era, you could as easily ask why Christianity didn't simply keep the Jewish calendar!

And BTW, the New Year of the early Christian calendar was also at the spring equinox, but this was altered later on.

Best regards, :)

Bruce
 
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