Christmas is just around the corner!
Just kidding... well, not really kidding.
This weekend, Bahá'is around the world will be celebrating "days outside of time".
The Bahá'i calendar is made up of 19 months and each month has 19 days. Do the maths - that makes 361 days a year. The Gregorian calendar has 365 days, so the four remaining days are called Intercalary days or AYYAM-i-HA!! yeah!! These are the last four days in February (this year it's February 25 - 28) just before we start the 19 day fast (March 1 - 19). It's pretty much a festival of joy, happiness, love, charity, and everything sharing-is-caring related.
I've celebrated Ayyam-i-ha in many places around the world so far - in Nigeria, England, India, Iran and the Philippines and even though there is no ritual, no tradition, no specific way the occasion should be held, the celebrations everywhere end up being the same. They all start off with beautiful prayers to get us spiritually "in the zone", then readings and quotations to have a better understanding of what the celebration is about, and really just to have somethings to reflect on, then games, music, creative presentations, and ends with fuel for our physical bodies (food, glorious food).
Based on the experiences I've had, as well as my current participation in organizing the celebration here in Manila this weekend, I've put together some ideas to help you/your community with organizing your upcoming celebration! 😊
1) Who to invite?
EVERYONE! Ayyam-i-ha is not exclusively for Bahá'is. Neither is it just for the kids of your children's classes and junior youth groups. The invitation extends to everyone - your family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, strangers!
2) Decorations
Whether your celebration will be at someone's home, at the Baha'i center, or at a rented hall - decorating the venue is something that's so much more fun to do when many people are involved! Calling the children, junior youths, youths, adults in the community to help blow balloons, design the "Happy Ayyam-i-ha" banner, place the flowers here and there, gives the community a space to come and work together, to be creative and really own the occasion. Here are some pictures of the Manila friends decorating the Baha'i Center for last year's Twin Holy Days (Birth of the Bab & Baha'u'llah)
It would also be nice to
draw inspiration from the local festivals in your area. For example, here in
the Philippines there are lots of “fiestas” and it’s very popular for people to
put up “banderitas” across the streets during the fiesta time. Hanging
banderitas for Ayyam-i-ha would definitely put everyone in a fiesta/festival mode once they arrive!
 |
| photo from the internet. The banderitas could be stretched across the ceiling, or even leading up to the venue! |
3) Devotions
Like all the other holy days or special days in the Bahá'i Faith, the Ayyam-i-ha program always opens with a round of prayers. You could select a few who would read the prayers (eg. prayer for unity, for spiritual growth, for children, for praise and thanks, for gatherings - revealed by the Báb, Abdu'l-Bahá and Baha'u'lláh) and if there's a Persian in the audience, ask them to chant lol😂
Since you will most likely be having guests with different religious backgrounds, as well as some people who might not have even heard about the Bahá'i Faith until this day, it is important to have someone read or give a talk about what is Ayyam-i-ha. You don't have to search too deep for this, because some friends have been wonderful enough to write blog posts/articles, which are brief and yet contains everything one really needs to know about the occasion. For example
Since you will most likely be having guests with different religious backgrounds, as well as some people who might not have even heard about the Bahá'i Faith until this day, it is important to have someone read or give a talk about what is Ayyam-i-ha. You don't have to search too deep for this, because some friends have been wonderful enough to write blog posts/articles, which are brief and yet contains everything one really needs to know about the occasion. For example
- Ayyam-i-ha: A Time for Charitable Giving by Payam Zamani
- An introduction to Ayyam-i-ha by Sonjel Vreeland
These articles give a background about what Ayyam-i-ha means, and most importantly it contains a quote directly from the Writings "Let the days in excess of the months be placed before the month of fasting. We have ordained that these, amid all nights and days, shall be manifestations of the letter Ha, and thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months. It behooveth the people of Baha, 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; and when they end - these days of giving that precede the season of restraint - let them enter upon the Fast." -Baha'u'lláh, the Kitab-i-Aqdas.
Having direct quotations from the Holy Writings is very important because there's no better way to express or describe the importance of the occasion than through the words of the Manifestation of God. Speaking of quotations, it would be really nice if each person gets a quotation to read. For our upcoming celebration here in Manila, I selected quotations related to the themes of Ayyam-i-ha, like charity and happiness. I printed them on cardboard paper, and I plan to give them to the friends to take turns reading. Why cardboard paper? It's because I think there's a higher chance the person will keep the paper rather than crumple/misplace it after... because I'd really like them to keep it. You can go a step further and be creative - you could print the quotations and laminate them, or punch a hole on the top and put a string through it so it serves as a bookmark! Or you could print the quotations on cards, and give them to the readers...they'll serve as a gift too. Here are some of the quotations I've chosen:
4) Performing arts
In Bahá'i children's classes, kids learn songs all the time. Ayyam-i-ha is a wonderful chance for the children to sing those songs, to showcase their talents! It's also an opportunity for the junior youths to do a skit on themes like charity - because in their Junior Youth groups, they learn to prefer their brother before themselves through the stories of Musonda, Rose & Kibomi who preferred others before themselves. So the theme of service and charity could be reflected in their skits/drama.
Music plays a big part in the celebration - not just the kids performing, but in ALL the celebrations I've been to, the friends just burst into singing during this time. I remember two years ago, me and one of the youths in the community I was a part of in India wanted to create our own Ayyam-i-ha song but we didn't have enough time so we looked up Ayyam-i-ha songs on youtube and learnt this one (see below) then on the occasion itself, we taught the friends the lyrics and everyone sang!
If you still have time, you can get the youths to learn any of these beautiful songs!
Or better yet, let them create their own songs!
Or better yet, let them create their own songs!
5) Gift exchange
It's always more fun when there are games or activities that can involve everyone! Apart from charades and quizzes, one of my absolute favorite activity is PASS THE PARCEL! In case you're not familiar, here's a how the game is played. So it's basically a big parcel, with layers and layers of presents. Back in India, I had handkerchiefs, hair brushes & pens wrapped, and in Iran I placed 2017 pocket calendars. So the parcel is passed round while the music plays, then when the music stops, whoever is holding it has to open one layer and gets the present.
Many communities like doing a gift exchange. I've experienced this just once, back in Nigeria. We were around 10 people and we didn't know there was going to be a gift exchange; one of the friends brought a number of gifts, put numbers on them and asked us to pick a number that was folded. We received the gift that corresponded to our number. This time around, the friends of Manila have been asked to bring something (worth a certain amount) for the gift exchange.
Deciding what to get can be really tough because you'll need to consider that the person who gets your gift might be a male or a female, young or old. But I came up with some gift ideas which I think will be useful to anyone really:
- Diary/Planner - we're still in the early part of the year so it's not too late to give a 2017 planner!
- Mug or tumbler
- Frame - with a stand, or for the wall. Could be a canvas painting, or a print out.
- Food! eg. a box of cookies or some chocolate bars (who could say no to chocolates?!)
- An inspiring book - could be related to faith (eg. for Baha'is, the latest edition of Some Answered Questions would be wonderful), or not related to faith for example a self-help book or someone's autobiography
- Household decoration - a bedside lamp, a table clock (or even an alarm clock!), a little flower vase or a pen/paper holder for the office desk or by the telephone.
6) Food
Potluck is always the best option - it's always a good idea to ask everyone to bring something, as it gives them a chance to contribute and prepare. But it's also important to keep in mind that since Ayyam-i-ha is all about sharing and giving charity, we should remember to extend the food beyond ourselves, beyond just those in the hall celebrating with us - and out to the wider community. Ayyam-i-ha is four days, so you have lots of time to have different programs. For example this Sunday morning, the Manila/Makati community will be having a children's festival for all the neighbourhood kids. We'll be giving them a warm meal, juice and candies from the pass the parcel game. Your community could decide to do this, if not the whole community then get the Junior Youths to make sandwiches/pack goody bags, and as their service project share with anyone they wish to - be it the wonderful people sweeping our streets, the homeless people, kids of our drivers/nannies etc.
Back to the potluck - it's important that the friends in the community inform each other what they plan to bring so that not everyone ends up bringing cake (because that's what happened here once!) When planning for potluck, identify who will prepare/bring rice. Once that's set, the others can decide what savoury dish they'd like to bring:
- Eg. something dry like roasted chicken or something with sauce eg. curry
- Spagetti is a universal party so that's a big yes!
- Finger foods and dips eg. spring rolls, samosas, mini pizzas, mini barbecue sticks, sushi!
- For the healthier side, someone can bring salad, others can bring fruits (either whole or sliced up into a fruit salad)
- Then for dessert, local sweets will always be loved by everyone. If someone decides on getting a cake, it would be really lovely if he/she could have it customized, with "Happy Ayyam-i-ha" written on it! Here's a cake prepared by one of the friends here in the Philippines last year:
Let's not forget, Ayyam-i-ha is four happy days! The program does not have to be limited to one event in one hall; it can be spread across all four days with different activities - picnic in the park, children's festival in the neighborhood, a visit to an orphanage...
wherever and however, we should remember:
"If we are not happy and joyful at this season, for what other season shall we wait for and what other time shall we look?"
- Abdu'l-Bahá