Baha’i volunteers hosted guests at the Baha’i Shrine and Gardens in Bahji, in the northern Israeli port city of Acre, on Thursday, in a celebration inspired by the traditional festival of Ayyám-i-ha.
Participants started the evening celebration with a visit to the Shrine of Baha’u’llah (the Prophet Founder of the Baha’i religion), and continued with a spiritual program. The participants came from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.
The festival is celebrated in the days before the Baha’i Fast and is dedicated to community service, hospitality, and generosity.
Dr. David Rutstein, Secretary-General of the Bahá’í International Community, told the attendees of the event’s significance and welcomed the crowd of participants.
“I’m delighted to welcome you to our celebration of ‘Ayyám-i-Há, which are days in the Bahá’í calendar just before our period of fasting, dedicated to joy, generosity, hospitality, and service to humanity. Looking around the room, we are even more delighted to see all of you, a sample of the diversity of the people of this land, and we are honored to be able to call you our friends,” Rutstein shared.
In the Baha’i calendar, each year consists of 19 months of 19 days each. The four to five days that are not accounted for are known as Baha’i intercalary days or the Ayyám-i-Há, which are celebrated with festivities, giving gifts, parties, and charity work.
The Baha'i community
There are around eight million members of the Baha’i religion across the globe, and while there is no local Baha’i community in Israel, around 700 Baha’i volunteers reside here for periods of time as religious volunteers at the Baha’i World Center.
The largest Baha’i community is in India, but there are also Baha’i communities in the Middle East, where some face persecution and discrimination because of their beliefs.