On 16 and 17 October Bahá’ís of India along with their fellow Bahá’ís throughout the world, celebrated the Twin Birthdays of two central figures of the Bahá’í Faith – the Bab and Baha’u’llah. These Twin Birthdays are celebrated annually as one festival where the closely interwoven lives and missions of these two Divine Luminaries are remembered together.
These are the only two holy days of the Bahá’í calendar (or Badi calendar as it is known) that follow the lunar calendar. They fall on two consecutive days of the calendar with the specific dates of the festival changing from year to year. The Bab and Baha’u’llah were born in Persia more than 200 years ago on 1819 and 1817 respectively.
In India, celebrations were held throughout the country. Homes and community centres in villages, towns and cities were decorated to reflect this auspicious occasion. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered together on these days to pray, worship, and celebrate this occasion through artistic performances and festivities that incorporated elements of local culture.
As part of the commemoration of these Twin Birthdays, an interfaith symposium was organized by the Office of Public Affairs of the Bahá’ís of India to reflect on the unity of purpose among the Founders of the world’s religions. Titled ‘The Divine Educators and the Nature and Purpose of Religion’, the symposium which was held at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Delhi on 14 October brought together representatives of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, the Bahá’í Faith, Judaism and Buddhism to focus on the central role of these divine beings in the moral and spiritual development of humankind.
