Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9104020217
SECTION: DAYS OF REVERENCE PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The celebration marked the end of a 19-day fast that coincided with the final month of the Baha'i calendar, said James Williams, a member of the Roanoke Baha'i Community.
As is the case in many other religious traditions, the Earth's rebirth in the spring is reason enough for a celebration of the divine.
Naw-Ruz has its roots in the Persian Islamic background from which the Baha'i faith sprang. The equinox is seen as "a symbol of the manifestation of God," when his illumination is equally distributed to all the Earth, according to "Days to Remember," a collection of Baha'i religious writings on the holidays.
"The Sun of Truth rises on the horizon of Divine Mercy and sends forth its rays," the book says. In spring, "every living thing responds, including the bodies of animals and men."
The Baha'i calendar has 19 months of 19 days, with a four- or five-day period added between the 18th and 19th months to make up the additional days of the solar year. Those additional days, called Ayyam-i-Ha, are a festive period from Feb. 26 through March 1. Adults and children exchange presents, Roanoke Baha'i Rick Bradshaw said, much as Christians do at Christmas.
That is followed by the sunrise-to-sunset fast, during which Baha'is may not eat, drink, smoke or have sexual relations.
Baha'is often arise before sunup during the fast month to eat a hearty breakfast to sustain them through the day, Williams said. Then, he added, they often plan meals that seem particularly enjoyable for the end of the day.
The adherence to the fast closely resembles the Islamic tradition of abstinence during the month of Ramadan, which began March 17. The aged and sick are excluded from its provisions, and the fast is not designed to weaken adherents but to strengthen spiritual perceptions during the month, Bradshaw said.
"Hunger pangs remind us of why we are doing it - of God, who we are, of devotion," Bradshaw said.
Fasting ends with the New Year celebration, at which Baha'is may send each other greeting cards and get together for a pot-luck dinner, music and other celebrations.
Baha'is are followers of the teachings of Baha'u'llah, an Arabic title meaning "The Glory of God." He was born in Tehran, Persia, in 1817 as Mirza Husayn Ali.
In 1863, he proclaimed himself the "manifestation of God" prophesied by Siyyad Ali-Muhammad, who was known as the Bab, or Gate. Since 1844, the Bab had claimed a new revelation from God independent of his own Muslim heritage and his direct lineage from the prophet Mohammed.
Before the Bab was martyred in 1850, he also prophesied the coming of one who would be greater than himself - the fulfillment of which Baha'u'llah proclaimed himself to be.
Baha'is believe all the world's great religious leaders - including Krishna, Moses, Christ, Mohammed and Buddha - to have been deliverers of revelation in accordance with the plan of an essentially unknowable God.
Sacred revelational writings of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, along with the interpretations of those writings by two of Baha'u'llah's descendants, are used as the definitive guides to Baha'i practice.
Among distinctives of the faith are belief in the oneness of humanity from which a world civilization will evolve; that all the great religions are divine in origin and destined for unity; that all prejudices must be erased; that religion and science work in harmony with one another; and that God's nature is unknowable.
The religion has no priesthood, and use of alcohol and habit-forming drugs is prohibited. As do many other religions, the Baha'i faith forbids murder, arson, theft, gambling, homosexuality and slave trading. It also outlaws cremation, begging and "the kissing of hands."
The faith is second only to Christianity in the number of countries in which it has adherents.
by CNB