BAHA'I FAST by Grace Guido

There are many different calendars used throughout the world today, none corresponding completely with the other. Baha'is living in countries scattered over the globe make use of a new calendar that was inaugurated by the Bab in 1844, the forerunner of the Baha'i Faith. The calendar starts with New Year; it is astronomically fixed and begins with the March equinox (usually March 21), which many cultures celebrate as the first day of Spring. There are 19 months, each having nineteen days; community gatherings called Nineteen Day Feasts are held on the first day of each month. The months are named with titles such as: Splendour, Glory, Beauty, Mercy, Light, Will and Dominion.

Nine Holy Days, on which work is suspended and commemorations or festivities take place in leap years, are called Intercalary Days; during these special days, Baha'is celebrate Ayyam-i-Ha, a period of hospitality and sharing, as preparation for the annual fast.

During the month of March each year, for a period of nineteen days, Baha'is are enjoined to observe a fast from food and drink between sunrise and sunset. The fast permits a periodic cleansing of the body which is a healthy practice providing it is not carried to excess. March is a time of year when the fast period, approximately twelve hours per day, is most equivalent all over the world. Baha'is who are sick or old, women who are pregnant or nursing, children and those who are travelling do not need to observe the fast.

Although fasting benefits the body, it is essentially intended as a spiritual discipline. Abstinence makes one appreciate the things he has all the more, and also helps one understand the condition of those who do not have basic needs. Fasting requires a change of habit and assists us to realize how much we are bound by our own ideas and customs; when we experience our capacity to break our traditional way of doing things, we learn that the changes needed in an ever-advancing society are possible. Fasting, which begins as sacrifice, becomes hope.

The Fast ends at sunset on March 20th, the beginning of a new Baha'i year. Baha'is around the world celebrate the breaking of the fast at the festival Naw Ruz or New Day.

It is especially appropriate, to Baha'is who hold that humanity is one single race, that this important Baha'i Holy Day has been designated by the United Nations as: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

This article was originally published in Cross Cultures Magazine in Volume 1 - Issue 3 - 1992. Unauthorized copying, distribution or other usage without express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.