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Baha`i community marks New Year
2008-03-22 10:05:10
By Guardian Reporter
The Baha`i community in the country joined their fellow faithful around the world yesterday to mark their New Year.
According to a press statement issued in Dar es Salaam by the local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha`is of Dar es Salaam, the sect`s New Year is marked on March 21.
``This is one of the nine Baha`i holy days on which they do not work,`` read the statement, signed by Qudsiyeh Roy, representative of the community in Dar es Salaam.
According to the statement, the Baha`is calendar, which is also known as the `wonderful` calendar, consists of 19 months, each of which has19 days (361 days), with the addition of the so-called \'intercalary days` between the 18th and 19th months to adjust the calendar to the solar year.
The New Year festival `comes at the end of the 19th day fast in which the Baha`i believer abstains from food and drink, from sunshine to sunset, as a reminder of detachment from material needs,` said the statement.
It noted that the marking of the Baha`i New Year took different forms throughout the 120,000 localities in which the faithful of the community, who embrace world unity and diversity, reside.
The Baha`i community of Dar es Salaam, said the statement, marked the day yesterday with prayers and reading of Baha`i scriptures in different languages, music and dance at Upanga, in the city.
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