April 20th 2024 begins a twelve-day festival in the Bahá’í Faith, commemorating Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration that he was a Manifestation of God.
— Riḍván Festival Details —
Festival of RidvánSat April 20th, 3:00pm: Festival of Ridvan (doors open at 2:30pm)
Dear Friends, You are joyfully invited to celebrate the First Day of Riḍván!
Riḍván means “Paradise” and is named after the Garden of Riḍván (lit. garden of paradise) or Najibiyyih Garden. It is the holiest Bahá’í festival, and is also referred to as the “Most Great Festival” and the “King of Festivals”. The first day, ninth day, and twelfth days are Holy Days in which work is to be suspended.
Inhale the fragrances of the Ridván from His roses and be not of those who are deprived. Appreciate the bounty of God upon you and be not veiled therefrom – and, verily, We have sent Him forth in the temple of man. Thus praise ye the Lord, the Originator of whatsoever He willeth through His wise and inviolable Command!
Verily, those who withhold themselves from the shelter of the Branch are indeed lost in the wilderness of perplexity; and are consumed by the heat of self-desire, and are of those who perish.
Hasten, O people, unto the shelter of God, in order that He may protect you from the heat of the Day whereon none shall find for himself any refuge or shelter except beneath the shelter of His Name, the clement, the forgiving! Clothe yourselves, O people, with the garment of assurance, in order that He may protect you from the dart of doubts and superstitions, and that ye may be of those who are assured in those days wherein none shall ever be assured and none shall be firmly established in the Cause, except by severing himself from all that is possessed by the people and turning unto the holy and radiant Outlook.
-Bahá’u’lláh, The Tablet of the Branch – from Bahá’í World Faith
