This Friday, March 21, Baha’is around the world will be celebrating the Baha’i New Year (or Naw-Ruz), one of the nine Baha’i holy days. The celebration comes at the end of the annual 19-day fast (March 2-20) during which Baha’is abstain from food and drink between sunrise and sunset as a way of calling to mind their spiritual nature and detaching from their material desires.
As the Baha’i New Year coincides with the first day of spring (the vernal equinox), the outward evidences of new life symbolize a time of inner spiritual renewal, an idea shared in common with many world traditions which celebrate holidays at this time of year.
Of this time of year Baha’u’llah wrote: “Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw-Ruz as a festival unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee…Grant, O my Lord, that the fire of Thy love and the heat produced by the fast enjoined by Thee may inflame them in Thy Cause, and make them to be occupied with Thy praise and with remembrance of Thee.”
As with all Baha’i holy days, New Year’s celebrations will take on different forms throughout the world, as fixed rituals are eschewed by the Baha’i teachings. Typical Naw-Ruz parties, some of which will begin after sunset on March 20, encourage community fellowship and often include programs of prayer, spiritual upliftment, music and dancing, and feasting.
This year, Baha’is welcome the year 165 of the Baha’i Era, a cycle which began in 1844 when their calendar was initiated by the Baha’i figure known as the Bab and later confirmed by Baha’u’llah. The Baha’i calendar consists of 19 months of 19 days each (361 days), plus four or five additional “Intercalary Days” which adjust the calendar to the solar year.