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Activities in Thames Valley Bahai Community. Baha'i Faith in the UK Baha'i Religion Spiritual and Material

In the Garden of Ridvan . . .

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Saturday (April 21) marks the start of the 12-day Festival of Ridvan for Bahá’is across the world. It’s a time of commemmoration for the time Bahá’u’lláh spent in the Garden of Ridvan before being exiled from Baghdad to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).

Bahá’u’lláh spent 40 years of his life in exile (he was originally sent from his native Tehran in Persia – present-day Iran – in 1853).

The Festival of Ridvan marks the anniversary of Baha’u’llah’s declaration in 1863 that He was a new messenger of God. He called Ridvan the “King of Festivals” and the “Festival of God,” among other names.

Bahá’is throughout the Thames Valley are gathering on April 21 for prayers and meditations at the start of the Festival of Ridvan. April 21 is one of the nine holy days of the year when work is suspended.

On Friday the 13th . . .

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On Friday the 13th, an extra ‘thought for the month’  from Thames Valley Baha’i Community . . . taken from The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Pages 194-197: gr4, author ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982 second edition):
 
 “Such suppositions regarding lucky or unlucky numbers are purely imaginary. The superstition concerning thirteen had its origin in the fact that Jesus Christ was surrounded by twelve disciples and that Judas Iscariot was the thirteenth member of their gathering. This is the source of the superstition, but it is purely imaginary. Although Judas was outwardly a disciple, in reality he was not.
 
“Twelve is the original number of significance and completion. Jacob had twelve sons from whom descended twelve tribes. The disciples of Jesus were twelve; the Imáms of Muḥammad were twelve. The zodiacal signs are twelve; the months of the year are twelve, etc.”
 
The words were taken from a talk by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, delivered in New York at the home of Mr and Mrs Howard MacNutt, 935 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York on 16 June 1912.
More details from Bahai Reference Library.