Weekly Insight: What in the Name of Baha'u'llah are "Intercalary Days"

What in the name of Baha’u’llah are “Intercalary Days”?

(The February 25th 3-Minute Weekly Insight from Spirituality U.)

Intercalary (pronounced, in-terk’-uh-lerry) Days are four or five special days that are part of a very unusual calendar followed by practitioners of the Baha’i faith.

Before talking about Intercalary Days let’s take a brief look at the Baha’i religion and its nineteen month annual calendar.

Founded in 1844 in Persia (now Iran), the Baha’i faith is among the youngest of the world’s religions, but also one of the most widespread in membership—there are more than 5 million adherents spread among 236 countries.

According to the official Baha’i USA web site, “Baha’is view the world’s major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity. Baha’u’llah (1817-1892), the founder of the Baha’i Faith, is recognized as the most recent in a line of Divine Messengers that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.”

Baha’u’llah’s core message was that humanity is one single race and that the time has arrived to reunite people throughout the world into one global society.

This one society, according to Baha’u’llah, should be guided by a set of principles for living drawn from the teachings of many religions and completed by insights from Baha’u’llah and other Baha’i leaders.

As one way of communicating these teachings, Baha’is follow an annual calendar of 19 months; and each Baha’i month is made up of 19 days. The Baha’i months are all named for attributes of God. These attributes comprise:Splendor, Glory, Beauty, Grandeur, Light, Mercy, Words, Perfection, Names, Might, Will, Knowledge, Power, Speech, Questions, Honour, Sovereignty, Dominion, and Loftiness.

The Baha’i year begins on the Vernal Equinox (usually March 21) and concludes with a 19 day month of fasting that starts in early March. The month of fasting is called “Ala,” or Loftiness. During this month Baha’is refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise until sunset.

If you do the math, you will note that the total of 19 multiplied by 19 equals 361—four days short of the 365 in the Western calendar (five days short in Leap years). This leads us to the Intercalary Days.

The term “intercalary” is a word that refers to the insertion of days into a calendar such as the Baha’i, to make it synchronized with the Western or solar calendar.

According to one source, “The Days of Ha” (as Baha’is refer to the Intercalary Days) are intended to mark the transcendence of God over His attributes. 

During these days, Baha’is are encouraged to celebrate God and His oneness by showing love, fellowship and unity with the people around them. In many cases Baha’is exchange small gifts as a way of illustrating God’s generosity. This is also a time of generosity and goodwill during which Baha’is participate in a variety of humanitarian activities.

For more information about Intercalary Days and the Baha’i Faith visit:

http://www.bahai.us/