SPECTRUM: The Beginning of the Baha'i Era

A number of years ago, I read a meditation book, whose title and author I have now forgotten, in which the writer speculated on the perspectives of the Christians in the first centuries of the Christian era.

Maybe a family had a wooden bench built by Jesus, and even if the bench was starting to fall apart, the family treasured it because it had been built by Jesus with His own hands!

What a beautiful thought!

Over the years I have pondered that scenario. Maybe I was a little envious of those early Christians.

Now it is 2018 C.E. and we are in the year 175 B.E. -- the second century of the Baha'i Era.

Every flowering of religion and civilization has had a calendar -- solar or lunar or a combination. Baha'u'llah's coming was heralded by The Bab,

which means The Gate. The Baha'i Era began in 1844, the year The Bab announced that One greater than He was to be made manifest. The Bab was comparable to John the Baptist announcing the coming of Jesus the Messiah.

The Bab's very first announcement was about two hours after sunset on May 22, 1844, in Shiraz, Iran (Persia). "This night," The Bab declared, "this very night will in the days to come be celebrated as one of the greatest and most significant of all festivals."

That evening changed the course of the world's life.

Nationwide, ABC-TV will premier a new hour-long documentary about The Bab this coming Sunday, May 20. Here in Southcentral Alaska, it will be shown at 9 am on Channel 13. The title is "The Gate, Dawn of the Baha'i Faith," and it is the story of His heroic life.

The first followers of The Bab and Baha'u'llah were martyred -- about 20,000 of them [that is not a typo -- 20,000]. They happily gave their lives for this new Cause -- the likes of which the world had never seen.

All new religions have had martyrs. Christianity has had many martyrs over its centuries, too.

Nineteen years later in 1863 C.E. Baha'u'llah told The Bab's followers that He was One The Bab spoke about. The announcement was in the Ridvan Garden -- April 21 through May 2 -- the 12 Holiest Days for followers of Baha'u'llah. It's the dawn of a new day for humanity.

The Bab also initiated a new calendar which Baha'u'llah confirmed. Year One is dated from March 21, 1844, the year The Bab declared His mission. Thus the New Year begins on the vernal equinox -- the first day of spring.

At this juncture of time, Baha'i wall calendars and pocket calendars contain both the Baha'i and Gregorian dates.

The Baha'i Calendar is mostly a solar calendar with 19 months of 19 days each, plus a 4-5 day period called the Intercalary Days -- a festive and gift-giving time. It's a self-correcting solar calendar and every 19 years the solar and lunar calendars coincide. It's the first and only calendar revealed by a Divine Manifestation, and it is independent of all other calendar systems.

The Baha'i Calendar began to be implemented in the West in 1907, and its Feast Days and Holy Days set the rhythm for Baha'i community life. One of the most rewarding aspects of becoming a Baha'i is being a part of this world-wide global community.

All the major religions began in the East and spread to the West. They have always come when the world needed them.

In the mid-1800's C.E., there were great expectations and prophecies in both the East and the West of a new era and a new day.

The Bab said, "The Revelation of God may be likened to the sun. No matter how innumerable its risings, there is but one sun."

And Baha'u'llah said, "All Glory be to this Day... a Day so blest that past ages and centuries can never hope to rival it."

This is the heart of the Baha'i Faith -- that there is only one God and we are all his children -- we are one human family! Over the centuries, the Manifestations of God have provided the teachings humanity needed at that time.

Baha'is do not proselytize -- they stress the independent investigation of truth. Everyone is encouraged to seek out the truth of religion and spirituality on their own.

The vast wealth of Baha'i history, teachings, principles and Holy Scriptures are available for study by anyone in Alaska -- and around the world. An excellent starting place is: www.akbaha'i.org.

I was not a part of early Christianity, but I'm so very grateful that I'm now a part of the first centuries of the Baha'i Era. I hope/plan to live to see the third Baha'i century begin on March 21, 2044 C.E. -- that will be the year 200 B.E.

A resident of Wasilla for almost seven years, Rosemary Vavrin has lived in parts of Alaska for 33 years.