Ridvan season approaching...

Later in April after April 19th Baha'is will be observing three Holy Days, namely the First, Ninth and Twelfth Days of Ridvan.

Ridvan means "Paradise" and for Baha'is it has historical significance as a garden island in the Tigris River in Baghdad where Baha'u'llah declared He was "Him Whom God would make manifest" a statement by His Predecessor the Bab, around April 19th or 20th in 1863.

Baha'u'llah had been exiled from Persia around 1853 and spent the years in Baghdad and Kurdistan. The Persian ambassador requested that the Ottoman Sultan move Baha'u'llah from Baghdad to Istanbul away from some of the sites of Shiah pilgrimage around Baghdad.

So Baha'u'llah began His journey and was twelve days at the Ridvan Garden island in the Tigris.

Aside from the above historical circumstances Baha'is also elect their administrative institutions during Ridvan... Any community with nine or more adult believers can hold an election for the nine believers to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly. National Conventions are also held during this period to elect nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly for a given country. There are somewhere around a hundred eighty two National Spiritual Assemblies.

David Merrick has compiled a printable version of the events leading up to the Declaration of Baha'u'llah in the Ridvan Garden in Baghdad in April 1863....

I quote from the opening paragraphs and add the printable version source so anyone can print it and use it for a possible program:

"Withstanding the cruellest persecution, the Báb lifted up His voice like the awakening dawn, and stirring the sincere of heart for what was soon to emerge, gave Himself over to the restless bullets of a desperate enemy, and was set free to soar high beyond the expanse of the Heavens; as the echo of bullets faded, Bahá'u'lláh, crushed beneath iron chains, shone forth in the darkness, an incandescent Light unfurling a glorious new Day.....

Release from the Siyah-Chal

"One day Bahá'u'lláh's brother was being chased by a gang, hoping to injure him. As he made it to the entrance of the Russian Consulate, they robbed him of his cloak. When the Russian Consul heard about this, and then learnt of Bahá'u'lláh's brutal imprisonment in an underground reservoir, he straight away rose up before the Shah and by using his great influence and pressure, brought about Bahá'u'lláh's release. Iran moved Bahá'u'lláh far away, to Baghdad; the Russians appointed guards to protect Him along the way, threatening that if a hair should be lost from His head, war would follow that would burn Iran to cinders. Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad Bahá'u'lláh stayed in Baghdad for ten years; He shone before all men and spread the Call of God, every day inspiring life into the community of the Báb, and causing every heart to tremble with wonder.

Decision to Remove Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdad

"Baghdad was very close to Persia and several of its shrine cities - a crossroads for Iranian pilgrims, and a haven and hotbed for political exiles. News of Bahá'u'lláh's extraordinary popularity with everyone poured endlessly into Tihran, and the authorities feared Bahá'u'lláh would influence their pilgrims, and perhaps use His rising prominence to threaten the Persian government. In their meetings and gatherings, they tirelessly searched for ways to bring about Bahá'u'lláh's expulsion, and the remorseless picture they built up filled the Shah with fear. For three long years, they tried every plot, persuasion and pressure to cause Istanbul to hand Bahá'u'lláh over to them, or to drive Him away; they then sought other governments to do the same; but Istanbul stood solidly by Bahá'u'lláh. Arranging for learned scholars to expose Bahá'u'lláh as ignorant, they instead walked away wholly satisfied; inciting gangs and hired assassins to have Bahá'u'lláh killed violently, Bahá'u'lláh faced them unarmed, without fear or harm. The Persian Ambassador became so frustrated at their lack of success, he cut off all connection to that government and refused to see the Sultan's ministers, until, at last, Istanbul found no alternative but to yield and move Bahá'u'lláh away. The Shah asked the Sultan to wipe out Bahá'u'lláh's influence and ensure He was moved very far away. They made a deal, and a telegram was sent to Baghdad directing His move out to Istanbul."

http://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/folders/Spirituality/001=Bahai/Ridvan.pdf

Ridvan is one of the most holy times of the year for Baha'is as there are actually three holy days on which work and school are suspended. The scenes of the video are those of the Ridvan Garden in the Holy Land (Israel).

A lovely video on the Ridvan season in English:

I was reading an article in a series called "Baha'i Teachings" this evening and wanted to share a few paragraphs:

Baha’u’llah’s declaration of his mission in the Garden of Ridvan gave new inspiration to everyone around him, infusing the entire gathering in the garden with joy and life. Each year Baha’is celebrate these joyous emotions during the Ridvan Festival, and Baha’icommunities all over the world host parties and gatherings where everyone is welcome.

Today the Ridvan period also serves as the time when Baha’is around the world elect the democratic institutions that administer and guide their Faith. Baha’is have no clergy, so Baha’i communities govern themselves with democratically-elected bodies of nine people called Spiritual Assemblies, annually elected at the local and national level during the twelve days of Ridvan. Every five years, Baha’is elect the Universal House of Justiceduring this same period.

You can read the rest of the article at

The Baha’is Celebrate Ridvan: Welcome to the Garden of Paradise

So when we celebrate the event such as the Ridvan it revives the spiritual significance of the event and we also act out in the form of an election the persons who will serve our communities in the coming year... Every community that has nine or more registered Baha'is elects the members of the Local Spiritual Assembly... also, about this same period of time there are delegates that were chosen at Unit Conventions across the continent that elect a National Spiritual Assembly representing each nation where Baha'is reside. Some places however refuse to allow Baha'is to meet and select such representatives.

Every five years Baha'is representing the various nations attend convention in Haifa and elect the members of the Universal House of Justice...the Center of our Faith today.

So this Ridvan observance stirs the remembrance and commemoration of our history and the proclamation of Baha'u'llah and we carry the spirit of the first Ridvan to our time and into the future.

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.

BBC - Religions - Bahai: Ridván

Elika Mahony has offered a delightful song and accompaniment for Ridvan and it's in a variety of languages. Enjoy her song for the Ridvan season...

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 been 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.

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.