Jeune Street

From 26 February to 1 March, Baha’is around the world are celebrating Ayyam-i-Ha, which is followed by a 19-day Fast and then the new year on 21 March (also the first day of spring). On the subject of Ayyam-i-Ha, Baha’u'llah wrote:

We have ordained that these, amid all nights and days, shall be the manifestations of the letter Há, and thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months. It behoveth the people of Bahá, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name.

By and large, Baha’is celebrate Ayyam-i-Ha as a period of gift-giving and hospitality in advance of the fasting period, but as this passage suggests there is a spiritual significance to the days as well. We had some friends over for a devotional gathering last week, and conversation turned towards this very question. Thankfully, our friend Robin Mihrshahi was present and he shared some interesting details from a book he has been writing about symbolism and metaphor within the calendar. I found Robin’s explanation of this quotation very interesting (from his manuscript):

The letter Há, in the term Ayyám-i-Há, can have a number of different meanings. … [It] stands for the terms ‘Huva’ (He), which signifies God, and ‘Huvíyyah’ (essence) denoting the unknowable Divine Essence. When Bahá’u'lláh states in the above quotation that these days “shall be the manifestations of the letter Há, and thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months”, this might, therefore, indicate that, while all the other days and months of the year are dedicated to divine attributes, the Days of Há signify the unknowable Essence of Divinity (Huvíyyah). In the same way in which this Divine Essence is outside the range and limits of human understanding, these days are, then, not part of the Kull-i-Shay’ (All Things) of the year and thus beyond the limits of time and names.

The Baha’i calendar is made up of 19 months with 19 days, and each month is given a particular name denoting an attribute of God (eg. questions, knowledge, loftiness). It’s quite beautiful to think that the time of year given to contemplating the ‘essence of divinity’ is also set aside to “provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy.”

Happy Ayyam-i-Ha, everyone.