Ridwan Season start on April 21st.

[arthra]

Awhile ago I recall posting about our Baha'i New Year on March 21st... Well starting April 21st will be our Ridwan season!

Ridwan is actually three Holy Days on which work and school are suspended... These days are the first day of Ridwan April 21st, the ninth day of Ridwan April 29th and the twelfth day of Ridwan or May 2nd.

For Baha'is this is the holiest season of the Baha'i year as it commemorates the Declaration of Baha'u'llah in the Ridwan Garden outside Bagdad in the Spring of 1863! Baha'u'llah declared that He was the promised One prophesied by the Bab as "Him Whom God Would Make Manifest" in the Bayan the holy book of the Babi dispensation which lasted from 1844 to 1863 or about nineteen years.

The Ridwan Garden also known as the Najibiyyih Garden itself was like a Garden on the far side in the Tigris River outside Bagdad...There are three days commemorated as on each of these days the Tigris flooded and would ebb tide permitting people to pass over to the other shore where the Garden was... On each occasion Baha'u'llah is reported to have revealed Himself ..first to a few select member of His family, then to larger and larger groups.

Nasiri'd-Din Shah was believed to have been behind moving Baha'u'llah from Bagdad as He was believed to be too close to the sites of pilgrimage around there and so requested the Sultan to order Baha'u'llah to Constantinople.

But on leaving Bagdad there was an aire of triumph to the Baha'is as Baha'u'llah had revealed Himself in the Ridwan Garden and rode away on a Rone Stallion, so instead of an exile and a prisoner being ordered to Constantinople, it was a march of glory for Baha'u'llah.

Finally...last but not least! The first day of Ridwan April 21st is when thousands of Baha'i communities of at least nine adult believers throughout the world from Mongolia to Madagasgar ...from Zimbabwe to New Zealand gather together to elect their Local Spiritual Assemby, this body of nine believers is our local administrative body in every jurisdiction.

- Art

[BruceDLimber]

And for the record, as the Baha'i day begins at sunset (just like the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Babi calendars), Ridvan (pronounced "rizwan," and meaning "Paradise") actually begins at sunset on April 20th! :-)

Best,

Bruce