Holy Days
"In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Bahá'u'lláh establishes the festivals of Ridvan (on the first, ninth and twelfth days of which work is to be suspended), the Declaration of the Báb, the Birthday of the Báb, the Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh, and Naw-Ruz. In the days of Bahá'u'lláh the Martyrdom of the Báb was also commemorated and 'Abdu'l-Bahá added the observance of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh as a corollary to these Holy Days, making nine in all. In addition to these nine days, the Day of the Covenant and the Anniversary of the Passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá are commemorated, but work is not suspended on these two days. See also the section on the Bahá'í calendar in any volume of TheBahá'í World. (p. 46)
(Baha'u'llah, Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 62)
Festival of Ridvan (21 April - 2 May)
"This is a reference to the arrival of Bahá'u'lláh and His companions in the Najibiyyih Garden outside the city of Baghdad, subsequently referred to by the Bahá'ís as the Garden of Ridvan. This event, which took place thirty-one days after Naw-Ruz, in April 1863, signalized the commencement of the period during which Bahá'u'lláh declared His Mission to His companions. In a Tablet, He refers to His Declaration as "the Day of supreme felicity" and He describes the Garden of Ridvan as "the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of His Name, the All-Merciful". Bahá'u'lláh spent twelve days in this Garden prior to departing for Istanbul, the place to which He had been banished.
"The Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh is celebrated annually by the twelve-day Ridvan Festival, described by Shoghi Effendi as "the holiest and most significant of all Bahá'í
festivals" (see notes 138 and 140).
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 212)
Bahá'í Fast (2-20 March)
Article: Fasting Health Benefits
"Know thou that religion is as heaven; and fasting and obligatory prayer are its sun and its moon. We entreat God, exalted and glorified be He, to graciously aid everyone who acteth according to His will and good-pleasure." Poetry
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