The Kitáb-i-Aqdas : The Most Holy Book
Notes
King of Festivals” and, second,
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 (Q and A
1), as is the day of the Declaration of the Báb.
The “
two other Festivals” are the anniversaries of the births of
Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb. In the
Muslim lunar calendar these fall on consecutive days, the birth of Bahá’u’lláh on the second day of the month of Muharram 1233 A.H. (12 November 1817), and the birth of the Báb on the first day of the same month 1235 A.H. (20 October 1819), respectively. They are thus referred to as the “Twin Birthdays” and Bahá’u’lláh states that these two days are accounted as one in the sight of God (Q and A
2). He states that, should they fall within the
month of fasting, the command to fast shall not apply on those days (Q and A
36). Given that the
Bahá’í calendar (see notes
26 and
147) is a solar calendar, it remains for the
Universal House of Justice to determine whether the Twin Holy Birthdays are to be celebrated on a solar or lunar basis.
1139.the first day of the month of Bahá
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In the Bahá’í calendar the first month of the year and the first day of each month are given the name “
Bahá”. The day of Bahá of the month of Bahá is thus the Bahá’í New Year,
Naw-Rúz, which was ordained by the Báb as a festival and is here confirmed by Bahá’u’lláh (see notes
26 and
147).
In addition to the seven Holy Days ordained in these passages of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Báb was also commemorated as a Holy Day in the lifetime of Bahá’u’lláh and, as a corollary to this,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá added the observance of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, making nine
Holy Days in all. Two other anniversaries which are observed, but on which work is not suspended, are the
Day of the Covenant and the anniversary of the Passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. See the section on the Bahá’í calendar in
The Bahá’í World, volume XVIII.
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