Bahá’ís all over the world are celebrating the Festival of Ayyam-i-Ha. From sunset on Wednesday, February 24, to sunset on Sunday, February 28, they will joyously take part in acts of hospitality and service. During this festivity, the Bahá’í community is encouraged to celebrate God and His oneness by showing love, fellowship, and unity.
Ayyam-i-Ha, or the Intercalary Days, is a multi-day Bahá’í festival dedicated to being hospitable and giving. Many communities and families share meals and some exchange gifts. Ayyam-i-Ha usually takes place near the end of February and the beginning of March and precedes a one-month fast.
As part of this commemoration, students and our Moral Education and Global Citizenship Department will sell alcohol gel to raise funds for riverside communities in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas. Before the pandemic, students would travel to these communities for the Amazon Crossing Project – an initiative to promote social interaction among people from different walks of life and learn about the art, culture, and customs of Amazon communities. Students will produce the alcohol sanitizer in our School Factory, using recycled materials and recipients.
“Let the days in excess of the months be placed before the month of fasting. We have ordained that these, amid all nights and days, shall be the manifestations of the letter Ha, and thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months. It behooveth 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, to sing His praise and magnify His Name; and when they end—these days of giving that precede the season of restraint—let them enter upon the Fast.” - Baha’u’llah