2002 Misc Documents - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Additional Information . Baha'i Faith On the first day of each Baha'i month (every 19 days), the Baha'i community gathers for a spiritual feast of fellowship, unity and peace. The Baha'i year begins on March 21 and the Bahd'i day begins at sunset. The Bahd'i era was inaugurated in 1844 with the declaration of the Bdb, regarded by Baha'is as the messenger of God who proclaimed the closing of the present era and promised the coming of one who would open the next era, fulfilled in the person of Bahd'u'll~h, the prophet for this age. Christianity The "fixed" feasts of the Christian year (e.g. Christmas, Epiphany), are determined by solar reckoning and therefore occur on the same date every year. However, the principal annual festival, Easter, and the holy days dependent on it (i.e. Good Friday, Pentecost and Ascension), known as "movable" feasts, are set in relation to the moon and the March equinox. Consequently, the dates of these four vary from year to year. Islam The Islamic calendar is lunar as far as setting festival dates is concerned. The months begin with the appearance of the new moon and alternate in length between 29 and 30 days. The lunar calendar is eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan. The daily fast is • observed from the first appearance of light on the eastern horizon to sunset. The Festival of the Breaking of the Fast celebrates the end of Ramadan, the month of fast. Two other months are also special. Muharram, which begins the year is a sacred month, and Dhul-Hijja, the last month of the year, is the time of pilgrimage. Eid al-Adha -this most important feast of Islam is celebrated on the end of pilgrimage to Mecca in the twelfth month of the Islamic year (which is lunar, not solar, so that Hajj and Ramadan fall sometimes in summer and sometimes in winter). Islamic Feast of Sacrifice concludes the Hajj and is a three-day festival recalling Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to Allah. Eid al-Adha is observed whether or not one is on pilgrimage to Mecca. Judaism The Jewish calendar has both lunar and solar aspects. Basically a lunar calendar, it is periodically adjusted to the solar year. Since the solar year exceeds the lunar year by approximately 11 1/4 days, one month is added to the cycle of 12 lunar months approximately once every three years (or seven months in 19 years). Thus, the Jewish common year has from 353 to 355 days, and the leap year (which has 13 months) 383 to 385 days. The pilgrimage festivals (Pesah, Shavuot, Sukkot) are celebrated one or two days longer by Orthodox and Conservative Jews in the Diaspora (i.e. outside Israel), while Reform Jews follow the practice in Israel. . Since the Jewish religious day runs from sunset to sunset rather than from midnight to midnight, festivals normally begin on the evenings prior to the dates given in the calendar. 9