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Bahá’í Holy Days


Occasion

Bahá’í Date /

Gregorian Date*


Notes**

Naw-Rúz

1 Bahá

21 March  

(20 March in 177 B.E. / 2020 CE)

First day of Riḍván

13 Jalál

21 April

Riḍván is a 12 day festival remembering the time that Bahá’u’lláh declared His Station. He and His family were camped in a garden, renamed Riḍván, for this period before leaving Baghdad. The main commemorations are held on these three of the twelve days and work is likewise only suspended on these three. The first day is  frequently remembered at 3pm.

Ninth day of Riḍván

2 Jamál

29 April

Twelfth day of Riḍván

5 Jamál

2 May

Declaration of the Báb

8 ‘Aẓamat

24 May

The conversation in which the Báb revealed His Station to Mulla Husayn took place between about one hour after sunset and exactly 2 hours 11 minutes after sunset, thus this event is officially commemorated at "about 2 hours after sunset."

Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh

13 ‘Aẓamat

29 May

This event occurred, and is commemorated, at 3am.**

Martyrdom of the Báb

17 Raḥmat

10 July

This event occurred, and is commemorated, at noon.**

Birth of the Báb

14 'Ilm

29 October   

The Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh are commemorated on the first and second days following the eighth new moon to occur during the Bahá’í year. These dates move on the calendar and may fall in Mashiyyat, 'Ilm, or  Qudrat (October or November).

Birth of Bahá'u'lláh

15 'Ilm

30 November

Day of the Covenant

4 Qawl

26 November

The Covenant refers to the agreements between God and the human race. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked that, in preference to His birthday being remembered, a day be instead set aside to remember the Covenant. Work is not forbidden on this day.

Ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá

6 Qawl

28 November 2018

This event occurred, and is commemorated, at 1am.** Work is not forbidden on this day.

Table of Holy Days for 176 B.E. (21 March 2019 to 19 March 2020)

Other Key Observances

Ayyám-i-Há

1-4 Ayyám-i-Há

25 Feb - 29 Feb

The length of Ayyám-i-Há changes, providing the year with the extra days required, in addition to the 19 months, to last from its own Naw-Rúz to the next.

The Fast

1-19 ‘Alá’

1-19 March

Bahá’ís aged 15 to 70 abstain from food and drink between sunrise and sunset unless their circumstances exempt them from doing so.

There are 11 Holy Days which are obligatory for Bahá’ís to observe each year. Work is prohibited on nine of them, all except for the Day of the Covenant and the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The Birth of the Báb and The Birth of Bahá’u’lláh are celebrated on the first and second days following the eighth new moon after Naw-Rúz, respectively. These dates move on the calendar and may fall in Mashíyyat, 'Ilm, or Qudrat (October or November).

*The Bahá’í day starts at sunset on the day before the one indicated. As the Badí Calendar is more directly aligned with the solar year than the Gregorian Calendar the equivalents of Bahá’í dates shift on the Gregorian calendar and are not the same every year.

**Times given for commemorations are in standard local time, where daylight savings time applies this must be taken into account, for example, if your clock springs forward one hour for the months that include the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh and the Martyrdom of the Báb, these should be commemorated at 4am and 1pm, local time, respectively.