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)
