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| (By Stefan Friedrich Birkner) |
The Bahai calendar year consists of 19 months with 19 days each (plus an intercalary period known as Ayyam-i-Ha). On the first day of each of these months, a Nineteen Day Feast occurs. Although refreshments are served, food is not the focus. According to UpliftingWords.org, the “feasting” refers primarily to these three elements of every such gathering: religious worship, grassroots governance, and social enjoyment.
The religious worship includes theme-based devotional readings from Bahai and other scriptures. The themes vary from month to month - and include such core attributes as Glory, Light, Mercy, Might and Loftiness. After worship,
democratic discussions take place in which all opinions concerning administrative issues may be heard. Each
Feast then ends with some time for socializing.
The Bahais note that there were 19 Apostles of Bahaullah – plus 19 members altogether within the group formed by the Bab and his disciples. The number 19 is also considered to be significant within other sacred traditions. In Islam, the Qur’an (74:30) states that there is a numerical strength of 19 male angels at any given time administering the Hell-prison. According to ibnzura.com, Qur’an 19:19 explains that “Jesus was given to Mary as the faultless child from God.”
Wikipedia lists many other examples of the number 19’s overall significance. The height of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial statue is 19 feet, the same as that of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial statue. In 1642, parliament sent a list of Nineteen Propositions to King Charles I of England. The popular Chinese, Japanese and Korean game Go has been traditionally played on a 19 x 19 grid since the fifth to seventh centuries CE. In mathematics, 19 is a centered triangular number (meaning that it can be configured with a dot in the middle that has 18 other dots surrounding it in triangular patterns.
Resources
http://www.upliftingwords.org/feast.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Day_Feast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_(number)
http://www.ibnzura.com/quran.php
Copyright March 2, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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