Erica and I picked Hari, Doug and Jacob up from their flat yesterday just after midday and drove up to Northampton for the family Ayy?m-i-H? party at Tom and Vicky’s. Alex and Charlie came, with Ethan and Emily. So did Ken (Charlie’s dad). Charlie’s mum couldn’t make it, nor could Vicky’s parents. Hayley, Charlie’s sister’ came later, but husband Kai couldn’t be with us.

Ayy?m-i-H? is a special time in the Baha’i calendar: four days that come between the penultimate and final months of the Baha’i year. Baha’is sometimes refer to them as ‘the intercalary days’ - and then there’s a great debate as to whether the emphasis goes on the syllables ‘in’ and ‘cal’ (as in intercalary) or ‘ter’ (as in intercalary - except that, in this pronunciation ‘cal’ is said very quickly with the ‘a’ almost elided - ‘interc’lary’).

More important to know what the Arabic phrase, ‘Ayy?m-i-H?’ means. Well, ‘Ayy?m’ means ‘days’ in Arabic and ‘H?’ is the Arabic letter H. The Days of H? Sounds very strange, doesn’t it? Actually ‘Ha’ symbolizes eternity and spirituality. The ‘Days of H’ are a time to express our spirituality through hospitality and acts of charity.

For our family the annual Ayy?m-i-H? party at Tom and Vicky’s has become something of a tradition. We all bring food and there are presents for everyone. It’s a great way to help the children feel something about the rhythm and pattern of the Baha’i calendar and to try to overcome the huge fanfare that Christmas blows in their minds. It’s always challenging to be counter-cultural - and Baha’is are counter-cultural in many ways - and it’s especially difficult for children. As parents and grandparents we want them to develop a strong Baha’i identity and a deep understanding of the Faith, but we don’t want them to feel isolated from their friends who aren’t Baha’is. You can’t develop a feeling of solidarity and unity with your fellow humans in the world if you are constantly harping on about differences and the exceptional nature of your religious or other identity. At the same time, Baha’is (and those of other faiths as well) do believe there is something special about their faith, their community, their identity.

The challenge is to recognize what is special about our faith and our being as Baha’is while living the reality of what ‘Abdu’l-Bah? says in the opening passage of Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bah?:

O peoples of the world! The Sun of Truth hath risen to illumine the whole earth, and to spiritualize the community of man. Laudable are the results and the fruits thereof, abundant the holy evidences deriving from this grace. This is mercy unalloyed and purest bounty; it is light for the world and all its peoples; it is harmony and fellowship, and love and solidarity; indeed it is compassion and unity, and the end of foreignness; it is the being at one, in complete dignity and freedom, with all on earth.

As Bah?’u'll?h says:

That the divers communions of the earth, and the manifold systems of religious belief, should never be allowed to foster the feelings of animosity among men, is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His Religion.

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