Why Nineteen Months?

Disclaimer:

All views, features, articles and captions expressed in Nineteen Months do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Baha’i Faith, but rather the interpretation of the writers, unless stated otherwise e.g. quotations.

Nineteen Months is an individual (or rather ‘collective’) initiative by a group of individuals.

For the official view of the Baha’i Faith, please always refer to the Baha’i Holy Writings or an official Baha’i website. Four examples of this are:

• The Baha’i Reference Library (Baha’i Writings)
• The International Website of the Baha’is of the world
• Baha’i World News Service
• Statements from the Baha’i International Community office at the United Nations

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About Nineteen Months

Nineteen Months is an international collaborative news magazine using spirituality to inspire photographers/writers and in turn, inspire others.

Visuals

There are Nineteen Months in the Bádi calendar; the calendar of the Bahá’í Faith. There are 19 days in every month, and every month has a name (see image below). Those names are ‘names’ or attributes of God.  These names are also the monthly photographic themes of Nineteen Months.

Thus, every 19 days, a new selection of photographs appear on Nineteen Months. Since unity in diversity is one of the main principles in the Baha’i Faith, every photographer will inevitably have their own interpretation of the name of the month, and this will be evident in their submissions.

Views

Every month the writers contribute articles based on individual perspectives, reviews of books, music, movies, etc, news, and whatever they are moved to write. Articles will be added on an ongoing basis throughout the month.

More about the calendar is below.

We hope your eyes are solaced by what you see.

The Bahá’í Bádi calendar

Facts about the Badi calendar

The Bahá’í calendar, technically called the Badi calendar, is a solar calendar of 365 days, or 366 days in leap years. It consists of 19 months having 19 days each. The remaining four days (or five in leap years) make up an intercalary period called Ayyám-i-Há which is placed between the 18th and 19th months. A seven-day week is used. The months are named after attributes of God, as are the days of the week. Although not much referenced at the present time, cycles of 19 years and 361 years are also identified within the Badi calendar.

As in the Jewish and Islamic calendars, the Bahá’í day begins at sunset. The year begins on the vernal equinox (currently this is fixed as March 21). Eleven holy days are commemorated in the course of the year, nine of which are designated as days on which work should be suspended. With the exception of Naw-Rúz, the first day of the year, all of these holy days are connected with the lives of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The Badi calendar was created during the ministry of the Báb and later confirmed by Bahá’u’lláh, who specified a few details that the Báb had left open. In particular, the timing of the intercalary days (Ayyám-i-Há) had not been specified. Bahá’u’lláh placed this celebration between the 18th and 19th months.

The Badi calendar consists of 19 months of 19 days, plus four intercalary days (five in leap years). Because it is a solar calendar like the Gregorian calendar and observes the same leap years, a given day in the Badi calendar falls on the same day of the Gregorian calendar every year. The months of the Badi calendar are above.