For Bahá’í communities around the world, 21 March was a very special day – their New Year’s Day.

This photograph, of Baha’i children at a 1989 Naw-Ruz (New Year) celebration in Equatorial Guinea, is the latest in the series of pictures – presented by Thames Valley Baha’i Community –  taken around the world at past Naw-Ruz celebrations.

The Bahá’í New Year, also known as Naw-Ruz (which means New Day), coincides with the start of spring and is the year 167 in the Bahá’í calendar, which dates from 1844 (birth of the Bahá’í Faith).