Ridvan season approaches....

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In April of 1863 Baha'u'llah stayed in what we call the Garden of Ridvan and known as the Najibiyyih which was actually an island in the Tigris River outside Baghdad for twelve days.. on His way to Istanbul summoned by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Baha'u'llah declared that He was "Him Whom God would make manifest" promised by the Bab.


"With the Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh the prophecies of the Báb concerning the appearance of 'Him Whom God shall make manifest' were fulfilled. The Báb had alluded in His Writings to the scene of Bahá'u'lláh's Declaration in 'Ridvan' and to the wafting of the breezes of His Revelation from 'Baghdad'. He had also foretold in the Persian Bayan that He would be manifested on the completion of the first Vahid (nineteen years) of the Bábí Dispensation, which began in 1844. In the first chapter of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', which was revealed when the Báb communicated His Message to Mulla Husayn, He referred to the 'people of Baha' as the only 'companions of the Crimson-Coloured Ark' moving upon the 'Crimson Sea'. The 'Crimson Ark' was a reference to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, which was 281 launched on the first day of Ridvan. The community of the Most Great Name emerged on that day, when the followers of Bahá'u'lláh acknowledged His station.

Of the twelve days that Bahá'u'lláh stayed in the Garden of Ridvan, three are regarded as Holy Days: the first day on which He declared Himself, the ninth day when all His family joined Him and rejoiced at His Declaration, and the twelfth day when He left that garden."

~ Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 1, p. 280


The Twelve Days of Ridvan (Paradise) are in the Baha'i (Badi) Calendar from sunset April 19th to sunset May 1st.. this year.

The First, Ninth and Twelfth Days of Ridvan are Holy Days when work and school attendance are suspended.

Of these twelve days the First Day of Ridvan which starts this year in the Gregorian Calendar after sunset Wednesday April 19th is the day local Baha'i communities elect Local Spiritual Assemblies around the world wherever there are nine adult believers in a given jurisdiction.

The Assembly is the local institution responsible for the activities of the Baha'is in their area.. It can also be consulted for issues concerning the Baha'is. Baha'i marriages are recognized by the Local Assembly and it is the Assembly's responsibility to see that Baha'i laws are observed..

Also every National Spiritual Assembly representing the Baha'is of over a hundred nations have convention this time every year and elect the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of a given country..

 

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A good description of Ridvan from the BBC:

The 1st, 9th and 12th days are especially holy days. They commemorate the arrival of Bahá'u'lláh at the Ridván Garden, the arrival of his family and his departure.

These three holy days are marked by communal prayers and celebrations, and are days on which no work is done.

Since Abdu'l-Bahá's time, Bahá'í elections have normally been held during Ridván. Local spiritual assemblies are elected on the first day of Ridván, while elections for national spiritual assemblies happen later in the festival.

The declaration of prophethood
Bahá'u'lláh's declaration that he was the prophet heralded by the Báb was not made public for over a year.

Bahá'u'lláh made the annoucement when he arrived in Ridván to Abdu'l-Bahá and four others, but told them to keep it a secret.

Bahá'u'lláh did not just announce that he was the prophet. He also said that there would be no other prophet for 1000 years, that his followers could not fight to protect or promote the Bahá'í faith and that "all the names of God were fully manifest in all things".

The last statement is taken by Bahá'ís to mean that the world had been mystically transformed and that there was now a new relationship between God and humanity.

The Ridván Garden
The Ridván Garden in Baghdad was originally named Najibiyyih. Bahá'u'lláh renamed it Ridván, which means Paradise.

Bahá'u'lláh had been exiled to Baghdad from Tehran in Persia in 1853, but in 1863 the authorities began to fear that he might be a focus for political unrest there. It was decided that Bahá'u'lláh would now be exiled to Istanbul.

So that his family and followers could prepare for the journey, Bahá'u'lláh left his house on 22 April 1863 and moved to the Najibiyyih Garden, where he proclaimed the Festival of Ridván. The festival begins 2 hours before sunset on 22 April, as that was the time he arrived in the Garden.

Bahá'u'lláh also had a garden called 'Ridván' outside Akka during the final part of his life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/bahai/holydays/ridvan.shtml

 

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On the evening of April 19th (The First Day of Ridvan) last week our community elected the members of our Local Spiritual Assembly. There have forty four Assemblies successively in our town since 1973.

They will serve on the Assembly for one year. The Local Assembly deals with issues within the jurisdiction of our town.. The Assembly sees that there are local Feasts and Holy Days as well as education for children and youth. The Assembly is also in charge of seeing that Baha'i marriages are within Baha'i law.

 

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The Ridvan season for us ends this year on May 1st.. Monday. Our local Assembly has been elected as well as the National Spiritual Assembly in the United States..and over a hundred and eighty countries around the world have also elected their National Spiritual Assemblies.

 

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An early architectural rendering of the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois:

 

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We finished the Ridvan season last Monday with a viewing of Baha'i films... "Anise" the companion was a drama about the companion of the Bab Anise...who preferred to be executed with Him.. suspended from a column in a barracks square in Tabriz, Persia in 1850 they were fired upon by a large contingent of soldiers firing muskets. They were actually fired upon twice by different battalions of soldiers.. The first group were Armenian Christian soldiers under the command of a Sam Khan.. The musket balls severed the ropes suspending the pair and when the smoke cleared the Bab had vanished.. He was found finishing a conversation He was having with a follower in a jail cell. Another regiment was called and this time both Anise and the Bab were executed... Their remains mixed together were secreted away by the next morning and were eventually taken to Mount Carmel for burial in the Shrine of the Bab forty years later.

The second film "The Luminous Journey" followed Abdul-Baha's travells to the United States in 1912.