# Ridvan, Festival of

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Christopher Buck, Ridvan, Festival of, bahai-library.com.
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> 744    Ridván, Festival of (April 20–May 2)
> ˙
> 
> worship.” Schools, often a focus of religious freedom issues, have been especially
> called upon to organize events emphasizing the civil rights issues around religious
> freedom. The U.S. Department of Education has issued a set of guidelines summa-
> rizing the religious liberties of students in the public school system.
> A coalition of organizations representing a spectrum of approaches to religious
> freedom has joined to promote Religious Freedom Day. They include the Associ-
> ation of American Educators, the Beckett Fund, the Council for America’s First
> Freedom, Gateways to Better Education, the Institute on Religion and Democracy,
> and the Providence Forum.
> J. Gordon Melton
> See also Human Rights Day; International Religious Freedom Day; World
> Religion Day.
> 
> References
> Religious Freedom Day. Posted at http://religiousfreedomday.com/. Accessed on July 15,
> 2010.
> 
> Ridván, Festival of (April 20–May 2)
> ˙
> The Festival of Ridván is a 12-day festival. The 1st, 9th, and 12th days of Ridván
> ˙                                                                ˙
> are three of the nine Bahá’ı́ holy days on which work is to be suspended. Among
> the Báhá’ı́ holy days, the Festival of Ridván (“Paradise”) is preeminent, for it
> ˙
> marks the inception of the Bahá’ı́ Faith as a distinct religion. Observed from sun-
> set on April 20 (marking the onset of April 21 in the Bahá’ı́ calendar) to sunset on
> May 2, the Festival of Paradise comprises three Holy Days. On the 1st (April 21),
> 9th (April 29), and 12th (May 2) days of Ridván, Bahá’ı́ communities will gather
> ˙
> to commemorate the signal events of that historic occasion.
> The Bahá’ı́ Faith, one of the youngest world religions, was founded by Mı́rzá
> husayn-‘Alı́ Núrı́ (1817–1892), a Persian nobleman known by his spiritual title,
> ˙
> Bahá’u’lláh (“Glory/Splendor of God”). The Bahá’ı́ religion is also regarded as
> having been cofounded by Bahá’u’lláh’s predecessor and harbinger, Sayyid ‘Alı́-
> Muhammad of Shiraz (1819–1850), known as the Báb (“the Gate”).
> ˙
> The unfolding of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission was gradual, progressively
> revealed in a series of disclosures. The “Festival of Paradise” commemorates
> Bahá’u’lláh’s private disclosure of his eschatological identity to a handful of his
> companions—around four years prior to his public proclamation to the rulers and
> religious leaders of the world (c. 1867–1873). To a select few Bábı́s, Bahá’u’lláh
> announced that he was the “Promised One” foretold by the Báb. To a select group
> of the world’s most powerful potentates and clerics, Bahá’u’lláh sent open epistles,
> proclaiming himself to be the “Promised One” foretold by the prophets of all past
> religions. In these “Tablets” (as the epistles were called), together with general Tab-
> lets addressed to kings and ecclesiastics collectively, Bahá’u’lláh stated that he was,
> Ridván, Festival of (April 20–May 2)          745
> ˙
> 
> inter alia, the long-awaited “World Reformer” who came to unify the world—a
> transformation that would, in the course of time, come about through the power of
> his universal principles and laws adapted to the needs of this day and age.
> Briefly, the history of Ridván began on the afternoon of April 21, 1863 (around
> ˙
> 3:00 p.m.). Bahá’u’lláh arrived in the Najı́bı́yyih Garden, subsequently designated
> as the “Garden of Ridván.” Located on the east bank of the Tigris in Baghdad,
> ˙
> Najı́biyyih was once a wooded garden, where Muhammad-Najı́b Páshá (Turkish:
> ˙
> Mehmed Necib, d. May 1851), governor of Baghdad (r. 1842–1847), had built a
> palace and placed a wall around the garden. It is now the site of “Baghdad Medical
> City” (formerly known as Saddam Medical City), a large modern teaching hospital
> in Baghdad.
> Bahá’u’lláh’s entrance into the Garden of Ridván signalized the commencement of
> ˙
> his momentous announcement, first to his companions, and eventually to the world at
> large. Exactly what transpired is shrouded in mystery, and accounts vary. Prior to this
> time, Bahá’u’lláh had concealed his mission for 10 years (1853–1863). This period of
> “messianic secrecy” has been referred to as the “Days of Concealment” (ayyám-i-
> butun—a term that connotes the image of embryonic development), although
> ˙
> Bahá’u’lláh’s  writings in Baghdad during this period are rife with hints about his pro-
> phetic mission, especially in his preeminent doctrinal text, the Book of Certitude
> (Kitáb-i-Íqán), which was revealed in two days and two nights in January 1861.
> In 1869, as part of the subsequent public proclamation of his mission to the world’s
> political and religious leaders, Bahá’u’lláh dispatched his second epistle (c. 1869) to
> Napoleon III (d. 1873). In this “Tablet” (spirited out of Bahá’u’lláh’s prison cell by a
> Bahá’ı́ pilgrim, who concealed the letter in the brim of his hat) to the emperor of
> France, Bahá’u’lláh announced: “All feasts have attained their consummation in the
> two Most Great Festivals, and in two other Festivals that fall on the twin days.” Here,
> the two “Most Great Festivals” are the Festival of Ridván and the Declaration of the
> ˙
> Báb (evening of May 22, 1844). The “twin days” refer to the Birth of the Báb (Octo-
> ber 20, 1819) and the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh (November 12, 1817).
> The purport of what Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed on that momentous first day of
> Ridván, beyond the declaration that he was “He Whom God will make manifest,”
> ˙
> involves matters of great import in that Bahá’u’lláh had decreed three of his most
> far-reaching laws, by (1) abrogating holy war, (2) asserting that no independent
> Messenger of God (literally, “Manifestation of God”) after Bahá’u’lláh would
> appear for at least a full 1,000 years, and (3) dispensing entirely with the Islamic
> category of ritual impurity or “uncleanness” (najis). Bahá’u’lláh later recounted
> this sweeping pronouncement in the Most Holy Book (the Kitáb-i-Aqdas):
> 
> God hath, likewise, as a bounty from His presence, abolished the concept of
> “uncleanness,” whereby divers things and peoples have been held to be
> impure. He, of a certainty, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous. Verily,
> all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first
> day of Ridván, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of Our
> ˙
> 746    Ridván, Festival of (April 20–May 2)
> ˙
> 
> most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes. (Bahá’u’lláh,
> The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 47)
> 
> The Festival of Ridván is important for yet another reason: most Bahá’ı́ elec-
> ˙
> tions take place at this time. On the first day of Ridván (April 21), all local Bahá’ı́
> ˙
> councils, each known as a Local Spiritual Assembly, is democratically elected, in
> a “spiritual election” conducted prayerfully and meditatively.
> The system of Bahá’ı́ elections is unique, both religiously and politically. Politi-
> cal scientist Arash Abizadeh has observed that Bahá’ı́ elections are governed by
> formal institutional rules and informal norms that specifically prohibit such famil-
> iar features of the political landscape as nominations, competitive campaigns, vot-
> ing coalitions, or parties. As an alternative model of democratic elections, Bahá’ı́
> elections incorporate three core values at the individual, interpersonal, and institu-
> tional levels: (1) the inherent dignity of each person; (2) the unity and solidarity of
> persons collectively; and (3) the intrinsic justice, fairness, and transparency of
> elected Bahá’ı́ institutions. Bahá’ı́ elections thus serve four primary functions:
> (1) selection (electing representatives); (2) legitimation (authorizing Bahá’ı́ gov-
> erning bodies in the eyes of the community at large); (3) education (cultivating
> the spirit of responsibility in each Bahá’ı́ voter); and (4) integration (fostering sol-
> idarity within the community as a whole).
> National Bahá’ı́ conventions are also held during the Festival of Ridván for the
> ˙
> purpose of electing national councils, each of which is called a National Spiritual
> Assembly. An exception to the timing of these conventions occurs once every five
> years, when the Universal House of Justice, the international governing council of
> the Bahá’ı́ Faith, is elected during the Festival of Ridván. The next is scheduled for
> ˙
> Ridván 2013, with national Bahá’ı́ elections rescheduled for May.
> ˙
> The Festival of Ridván marks the inchoative establishment of the Bahá’ı́ reli-
> ˙
> gion as a distinct faith-community through Bahá’u’lláh’s disclosure of his divine
> authority. The Festival of Ridván also marks the progressive advancement of the
> ˙
> Bahá’ı́ Faith as a distinct administrative order through the process of electing the
> faith-community’s governing authorities.
> Bahá’ı́s believe that in a future Golden Age—in which a self-governing world
> commonwealth emerges as the fruit of social evolution enlightened by Bahá’ı́
> sociomoral principles—the Festival of Ridván is destined to become the greatest
> ˙
> celebratory event in the world, according to the teleological Bahá’ı́ vision of the
> inevitable course of human history.
> Christopher Buck
> See also ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Ascension of; Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’ı́ Intercalary Days); Báb,
> Festival of the Birth of the; Báb, Festival of the Declaration of the; Báb, Martyrdom
> of the; Bahá’ı́ Calendar and Rhythms of Worship; Bahá’ı́ Faith; Bahá’ı́ Fast;
> Bahá’u’lláh, Ascension of; Bahá’u’lláh, Festival of the Birth of; Covenant, Day of
> the; Naw-Rúz, Festival of; Nineteen-Day Feast (Bahá’ı́); Race Unity Day; World
> Religion Day.
> Rishi Panchami       747
> 
> References
> Abizadeh, Arash. “Democratic Elections without Campaigns? Normative Foundations of
> National Bahá’ı́ Elections.” World Order 37, no. 1 (2005): 7–49.
> Bahá’u’lláh. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Haifa: Bahá’ı́ World Centre, 1992.
> Buck, Christopher. “The Eschatology of Globalization: Bahá’u’lláh’s Multiple-
> Messiahship Revisited.” Studies in Modern Religions, Religious Movements and
> the Babi-Bahá’ı́ Faiths, edited by Moshe Sharon, 143–78. Leiden: Brill Academic
> Publishers, 2004.
> Buck, Christopher. Symbol and Secret: Qur’an Commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán.
> Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 2004. First published 1995.
> Keil, Gerald. Time and the Bahá’ı́ Era: A Study of the Badı́‘ Calendar. Oxford: George
> Ronald, 2008.
> Walbridge, John. “Festival of Ridván.” In Sacred Acts, Sacred Space, Sacred Time,
> 232–41. Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.
> 
> Rishi Panchami
> 
> Rishi Panchami is a Hindu holiday with two related emphases. It is observed on
> the fifth day after the new moon in the Hindu month of Bhadrapad (August–
> September on the Common Era cal-
> endar), which is the final day of the
> primary Teej Festival, known as
> Hartalika Teej, widely celebrated
> across northern India and Nepal as
> a women’s festival. It is also a day
> set aside to show respect of the
> seven legendary sages known as
> the Sapta Rishis.
> The celebration of Teej is directed
> to Parvati, the wife of Shiva. She is
> said to have fasted and practiced
> various austere practices to win Shi-
> va’s affections. Women observe a
> strict fast dedicated to Shiva on the
> day of Rishi Panchami. In some
> regions, the fast is also observed by
> men. Women begin the day with a
> special ritual bath and will later in
> the day visit temples dedicated to     Hindu women take turns pouring water on each
> Shiva for an appropriate ritual. The   other while taking a ritual bath in the Bagmati
> fast is usually broken following the   River during Rishi Panchami in Nepal. (Getty
> Rishi Panchami puja (worship).         Images)
>
> — *Ridvan, Festival of (Used by permission of the curator)*