Ridvan Holy Days beginning April 19th...

arthra

arthra

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Later in April after April 19th Baha'is will be observing three Holy Days, namely the First, Ninth and Twelfth Days of Ridvan.

Ridvan means "Paradise" and for Baha'is it has historical significance as a garden island in the Tigris River in Baghdad where Baha'u'llah declared He was "Him Whom God would make manifest" a statement by His Predecessor the Bab, around April 19th or 20th in 1863.

Baha'u'llah had been exiled from Persia around 1853 and spent the years in Baghdad and Kurdistan. The Persian ambassador requested that the Ottoman Sultan move Baha'u'llah from Baghdad to Istanbul away from some of the sites of Shiah pilgrimage around Baghdad.

So Baha'u'llah began His journey and was twelve days at the Ridvan Garden island in the Tigris.

Aside from the above historical circumstances Baha'is also elect their administrative institutions during Ridvan... Any community with nine or more adult believers can hold an election for the nine believers to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly. National Conventions are also held during this period to elect nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly for a given country. There are somewhere around a hundred eighty two National Spiritual Assemblies.
 
Every year around this time Ridvan Baha'is hold an election for the Local Spiritual Assembly and so I have added some notes to describe the election and the responsibilities of the Local Spiritual Assembly.

Any community with at least nine adult believers in a jurisdiction such as a city or judicial district can elect it's own Local Spiritual Assembly... this body has several functions that include approving events such as Feasts and Holy Day events... providing educational and devotional meetings for the larger community some of which are called Ruhi classes and study circles... approving youth activities and supporting young Baha'is who may be in need of support or funds to attend summer schools. The Assembly also has responsibility to see that Baha'i laws relating to marriage are carried out. There may be other issues relating to Baha'i life.

Voting is conducted by secret ballot and there are no nominations for serving on an Assembly... usually a plurality of votes is required to be elected. There is no campaigning permitted in Baha'i elections. Those who have served the community become known by their services and dedication are usually known and elected. The individual Baha'is who serve on the Assembly have no authority by themselves ... They can only represent the Assembly.

In large communities where several thousand believers reside the Assembly can appoint committees or designate people to report back on various issues such as a consultation.
 
John Walbridge a Baha'i scholar explains how the Ridvan season has three Holy Days... The First, Ninth and Twelfth Days:


On the afternoon on which Bahá'u'lláh entered the garden, he proclaimed the festival of Ridvan. The Kitab-i-Aqdas, revealed ten years later, ordains it as one of the two "Most Great Festivals," along with the anniversary of the Declaration of the Bab. Bahá'u'lláh specified that the first, ninth, and twelfth days were to be major holy days - days on which work is prohibited.

These mark the days of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival,

the arrival of his family

and his departure.

Several tablets state that the festival properly begins at the time of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival in the garden, that is, two hours before sunset. However, work is prohibited for the entire Bahá'í day, beginning the previous evening.

http://bahai-library.com/walbridge_encyclopedia_ridvan
 
John Walbridge also made this observation about "three announcements" made in the Ridvan Garden on the First Day of the entrance of Baha'u'llah to the Garden:

The three announcements. In a tablet written some years later Bahá'u'lláh states that three announcements were made on the first day of Ridvan.

First, Bahá'u'lláh's followers were forbidden to fight to advance or defend their faith. Religious war (jihad) had been permitted in Islam and under certain conditions by the law of the Bab.

Second, there would not be another prophet for a full thousand years.

Third, at that moment all the names of God were fully manifest in all things.

These are perhaps to be regarded as an oblique announcement of his own prophethood. The first two anticipate basic features of Bahá'í law recorded in the Kitab-i-Aqdas.

The third announcement is echoed in many passages from tablets related to Ridvan - for example: "He Who is the Desire of all nations hath shed upon the kingdoms of the unseen and of the seen the splendor of the light of His most excellent names, and enveloped them with the radiance of the luminaries of His most gracious favors - favors which none can reckon except Him." Thus, Bahá'u'lláh's arrival in Ridvan marks a mystic transformation of the world, in which the entire creation is infused with the glory of God's names. His announcement can, therefore, be viewed less as the revealing of a secret to a few individuals than as a fundamental transformation in the relationship between God and the world.

http://bahai-library.com/walbridge_encyclopedia_ridvan
 
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Baha'is in my community just formed the forty third Spiritual Assembly since 1973 this evening.
 
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The Ninth Day of Ridvan is coming up on Thursday April 28th.. We observe this day abstaining from work and school... It was believed the Tigris River subsided and permitted more people to enter the Garden:

"Soon after Baha’u’llah arrived in the Garden of Ridvan the Tigris river rose due to flood waters. His son, Abdu’l-Baha, came with him, along with another son and His secretary. The rest of His family, however, had stayed behind to pack up their belongings. Because of the flooding they were unable to follow. On the ninth day in the garden the flood receded, and His family was finally able to join Him. Soon after the family arrived, the flood waters again rose. On the twelfth day they receded again."

https://zerbert.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/the-ninth-day-of-ridvan/
 
The Twelfth Day of Ridvan is commemorated this year on Sunday the first of May... The Twelfth Day is when Baha'u'llah and His party left the Ridvan Garden in Baghdad and began the long trek to Istanbul.

David Merrick summarized this event as follows:

Departure from Ridván Garden

After much time, the mules were loaded; eight or nine howdahs settled on them and closed up, and the ladies and children took their seats, some of these of the most joltering kind. Different people would be serving in different ways. A Turkish owner of pack mules was in charge of the baggage; the Master was on horseback, and with a number of others was watching the animals. One man stood in charge of supplies, for lending out any needed articles and seeing they were returned. All the young men, and others able to ride, mounted on their horses or rode on mules, and in the late afternoon of 3 May 1863, at the moment of the full moon, the company began upon its way, escorted by some Turkish soldiers, who behaved very respectfully to the exiles even though they were prisoners. So extraordinary was the influence of Bahá'u'lláh's personality, that all who came within its lines of force were affected and offered their courtesy.

Horse Brought and Mounted

During His many years in Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh had always chosen to ride a donkey rather than a horse. Towards sunset, amidst all the commotion, his lovers brought over an Arabian horse of the finest breed, the best they could afford. As Bahá'u'lláh's foot reached the stirrup, the red stallion bent its knees, and lowered itself, causing the people to lament ever louder. Bahá'u'lláh spoke to the horse approvingly as it recognised Who was about to mount him, and this remark burnt the hearts of everyone, until they became wholly unconscious of themselves. Bahá'u'lláh showered everyone with sweet words of consolation, and He waved farewell to all. As He mounted and was ready to depart, there was a great outpouring of grief. The lamentation, anguish and heart-rending, unbearable cries of distress of the friends and the sorrow and mourning of all the people was such that no one can ever depict. Time and again the call, 'God is the Greatest!' rang out from amongst the crowd.Read more at

Declaration of Baha'u'llah in the Ridvan Garden in 1863
 
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