Nineteen Day Feast

Culture of origin: Bahá’í · Cultural

Holiday sources: Bahá'í Faith

The Nineteen Day Feast brings each local Bahá'í community together on the first day of every month of the Bahá'í year, from sunset on the eve. In the Arabic Bayán the Báb called on his followers to gather once every nineteen days to show hospitality, and Bahá'u'lláh ordained in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas that a feast be offered "once in every month". Each Feast has three parts: a devotional part, with prayers and readings from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, the Báb and 'Abdu'l-Bahá; an administrative part, with news and consultation on the community's affairs, which Shoghi Effendi developed; and a social part. 'Abdu'l-Bahá called it "the Lord's Supper". The first Feast of the year falls on Naw-Rúz and the last on the first day of the Fast.