Ayyam-i-Ha: Beyond space and time



A Bahai House of Worship (by Jeff3000)

Humans seem quite comfortable with their three-dimensional spatial understandings.  Add a fourth – time (which is so integrally tied to space that many suspect they are one and the same) - and things still feel cozy within these cubic walls.  However, when

humans begin to peek beyond these dimensional “cages” - quantum leaps of faith can then occur.

This is sort of the principle beyond the Bahai “Days of Ha” (Ayyam-i-Ha).  Wikipedia reports that “the name Ha “has been used as a symbol of the essence of God in the Bahai holy writings.”  The Arabic abjad system equates the letter “Ha” with the number five, “which is equal to the maximum number of days in Ayyam-i-Ha.”

Although the days set aside for the Festival of Ayyam-i-Ha never exceed five, this Festival is – in a literal sense – beyond the usual constraints of time.  This is because it occurs during the intercalary period of the year.  Dale E. Lehman reports that the “Bahai calendar is a solar calendar (365 days in a year, 366 in leap years) consisting of nineteen months each containing nineteen days.”  The four to five additional days that “do not belong to any month” are those of the Ayyam-i-Ha Festival.

How does one celebrate these four to five special Bahai days that fall outside of typical time (and therefore space) allotments?  Bahaullah left these instructions regarding the Ayyam-i-Ha days that have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months:  “It behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord…”

In other words, these liminal “Days of Ha” may best be honored by sharing the type of love that transcends all worldly dimensions…

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayy%C3%A1m-i-H%C3%A1

http://www.planetbahai.org/cgi-bin/articles.pl?article=54

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327231.800-beyond-space-and-time-4d--time-the-great-deceiver.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjad_numerals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercalary_day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality

Copyright February 26, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved