The Báb introduced a new calendar, known now as the Badí or
Bahá’í calendar. According to this calendar, a day is
the period from sunset to sunset. In the Bayán, the Báb ordained the month of
‘Alá to be the month of fasting, decreed that the day of Naw-Rúz should mark
the termination of that period, and designated Naw-Rúz as the Day of God.
Bahá’u’lláh confirms the Badí calendar wherein Naw-Rúz is designated as a
feast.
Naw-Rúz is the first day of the new year. It coincides with
the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, which usually occurs on 21
March. Bahá’u’lláh explains that this feast day is to be celebrated on whatever
day the sun passes into the constellation of Aries (i.e. the vernal equinox),
even should this occur one minute before sunset. Hence Naw-Rúz
could fall on 20, 21, or 22 March, depending on the time of the equinox.
- The
Universal House of Justice (‘The Notes section of the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
