| Gregorian equivalent dates | |
| Year | Naw-Rúz |
| 2023 | March 21 |
| 2024 | March 20 |
| 2025 | March 20 |
| 2026 | March 21 |
| 2027 | March 21 |
Naw-Rúz is one of nine holy days for Bahá’ís worldwide, falling on the 1st day of Bahá (either March 20th or March 21st), the first day of the Bahá’í calendar.[1] Naw-Rúz coincides with the vernal equinox of the northern hemisphere, i.e. the day on which the sun passes northward over the earth's equator. Although not necessarily celebrated in the same way, the Bahá'í festival of Naw-Rúz is derived from Norouz, the traditional Iranian new year holiday, which has been celebrated both historically and in contemporary times throughout the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia such as Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and Turkey. Norouz has been a national holiday in Iran since ancient times, and was celebrated by more than one religious group.[1] The Báb, and then Bahá’u’lláh, adopted the day as a holy day and associated it with the Greatest Name of God.[1][2]
Significance[edit]
The Báb instituted a new calendar that was composed of 19 months, each of 19 days.[3] Each of the months is named after an attribute of God; similarly each of the nineteen days in the month also are named after an attribute of God.[3] The first day and the first month were given the attribute of Bahá, an Arabic word meaning splendour or glory, and thus the first day of the year was the day of Bahá in the month of Bahá.[1][4] The day was called the Day of God by the Báb, and was associated with He whom God shall make manifest, a messianic figure in the Báb's writings.[2] The remaining eighteen days of the first month were then associated with the eighteen Letters of the Living, the Báb's apostles envisioning a celebration that would last nineteen days.[1]
Bahá’u’lláh adopted the new calendar and the use of Naw-Rúz as a holy day.[1] The day follows the Bahá’í month of fasting, and He explained that Naw-Rúz was associated with the Most Great Name of God,[1][4] and was instituted as a festival for those who observed the fast.[5][6]
The symbolic notion of the renewal of time in each religious dispensation was made explicit by the writings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and the calendar and the new year made this spiritual metaphor more concrete.[7] ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained that significance of Naw-Rúz in terms of spring and the new life it brings.[1] He explained that the equinox is a symbol of the Manifestations of God, who include Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh among others, and the message that they proclaim is like a spiritual springtime, and that Naw-Rúz is used to commemorate it.[8]
Celebration[edit]
Naw-Rúz is one of nine Bahá’í holy days where work is to be suspended;[3] the only one that is not is not associated with an event in the lives of either the Báb or Bahá’u’lláh.[4] It is usually a festive event observed with meetings for prayer and music and dancing.[9][10] Since the new year also ends the month of fasting the celebration is often combined with a dinner.[10][11] As with all Bahá’í holy days, there are few fixed rules for observing Naw-Rúz, and Bahá’ís all over the world celebrate it as a festive day, according to local custom.[1] Persian Bahá’ís still observe many of the Iranian customs associated with Naw-Rúz such as the Haft Sîn, but American Bahá’í communities, for example, may have a potluck dinner, along with prayers and readings from Bahá’í literature.
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Naw-Ruz Feast in Tehran, Iran (1930). -
Naw-Ruz Feast in New York City (1939). -
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Naw-Ruz celebration in Pleiku, Vietnam, with 2,000 people attending (1971).
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Date[edit]
Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas defines Naw-Rúz as the Bahá’í day on which the vernal equinox occurs.[1][12] Since Bahá’í days start at sundown,[11] if the equinox occurred just before sunset, the day which started on the previous sunset is Naw-Rúz.[1] Thus Naw-Rúz could fall on either March 20, 21st or 22nd.[13] The implementation of the exact timing of Naw-Rúz for Bahá’ís worldwide depends on the choice of a particular spot on the Earth and has been left to the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá’ís.[13] The Universal House of Justice have decided that Ṭihrán, the birthplace of the Abhá Beauty, will be the spot on the earth that will serve as the standard for determining, by means of astronomical computations from reliable sources, the moment of the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and thereby the day of Naw-Rúz for the Bahá’í world.[14]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Walbridge, John (2004-07-11). "Naw-Ruz: The Bahá'í New Year". Retrieved 2025-03-21.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 MacEoin, Denis (1994). Rituals in Babism and Baha'ism. Cambridge: British Academic Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 1850436541.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Esslemont, J.E. (1980). Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era (5th ed.). Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. pp. 178–179. ISBN 0877431604.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lehman, Dale E. (2000-03-18). "A New Year Begins". Planet Bahá’í. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
- ↑ Bahá’u’lláh (1991). Bahá’í Prayers. Wilmitte, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 261.
- ↑ Bahá’u’lláh (1992) [1873]. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 25. ISBN 0853989990.
- ↑ MacEoin, Dennis (1989). "Bahai Calendar and Festivals". Encyclopædia Iranica.
- ↑ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1913-03-21). "Star of the West". 4 (1): 4.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) republished in Effendi, Shoghi (1983). Hornby, Helen (Ed.) (ed.). Lights of Guidance: A Bahá’í Reference File. Bahá’í Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India. ISBN 8185091463. - ↑ McMullen, Mike (2003). Neusner, Jacob (ed.). World Religions in America: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 266–267. ISBN 066422475X.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 BBC (2006-08-07). "Naw-Rúz". BBC. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mullins, Sandy (2007). "Naw Ruz (The Baha'i New Year)". BellaOnline: The Voice of Women. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
- ↑ Bahá’u’lláh (1992) [1873]. "Questions and Answers". The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 118. ISBN 0853989990.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Universal House of Justice (1992). "Notes". The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. pp. 177–178. ISBN 0853989990.
- ↑ "Universal House of Justice – To the Bahá'ís of the World". 10 July 2014.
External links[edit]
- Tablet of Naw-Rúz - a Bahá’í prayer read on Naw-Rúz
