107 First Day Of Ridvan #75
Categories:
NOTES
Sources:
The Kitab-i-aqdas
This is a reference to the arrival of Baha'u'llah and His companions in
the Najibiyyih Garden outside the city of Baghdad, subsequently referred
to by the Baha'is 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 Baha'u'llah 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. Baha'u'llah spent twelve days in this Garden prior to
departing for Istanbul, the place to which He had been banished.
The Declaration of Baha'u'llah is celebrated annually by the twelve-day
Ridvan Festival, described by Shoghi Effendi as the holiest and most
significant of all Baha'i festivals (see notes 138 and 140).