Bahá'í calendar

The Bahá'í calendar, also called the Badí‘ calendar, used by the, is a with regular years of 365 days, and s of 366 days. Years are composed of 19 months of 19 days each, (361 days) plus an extra period of "Intercalary Days" (4 in regular and 5 in leap years). Years in the calendar begin at the, and are counted with the of , with 21 March, 1844 AD being the first day of the first year. The period from 21 March, 2007 to 20 March, 2008 is the year 164 BE.

History
The Bahá'í calendar started from the original Badí‘ calendar, created by the. confirmed and adopted this calendar and made or the vernal equinox the first day of the year, and also clarified the intercalary days.

Although the vernal equinox can occur on March 20, 21 or 22, declared that, for the time being, the Badí‘ calendar is 'locked' to the Gregorian calendar with the new year always starting at sunset on. Without this, the calendar could vary by a day or two when compared to the. The implementation of the variable calendar with respect to the beginning of Naw-Rúz will require the selecting a single location for the fixing of the date of the equinox. This 'locked' calendar is the one described in this article.

Years in the Bahá'í calendar are counted from Thursday,, , the beginning of the Bahá'í or Badí‘ Era (abbreviated BE or B.E.). Year 1 BE thus began at sundown. Using the Bahá'í names for the weekday and month, day one of the Bahá'í Era was Istijlál (Majesty), 1 Bahá (Splendour) 1 BE. As detailed below, the names of the Bahá'í months and days reflect attributes of God.

Months
The Bahá'í calendar is composed of 19 months, each with 19 days. The is held during the final month of ‘Alá’ (2 March - 20 March), and is preceded by the intercalary days, known as. There are 4 Intercalary Days in a regular year, and 5 in a leap year. The month of fasting is followed by, the new year. Because the calendar is currently synchronized with the Gregorian calendar, the Bahá'í leap years happen on leap years. In addition, the Intercalary Days include and, causing precise synhronization of the 19 months with the Gregorian Calendar.

Holy Days
There are eleven holy days in the Bahá'í calendar on nine of which work is suspended. The Festival of, a twelve day festival which commemorates the commencement of Bahá'u'lláh's prophethood, is the most holy Bahá'í festival and is referred to as the "Most Great Festival."

Weekdays
The Bahá'í week starts on Saturday, and ends on Friday. Days begin at sunset on the previous and end at sunset of the present solar day. Like Islám, Friday is also the in the Bahá'í Faith.

Váḥid and Kull-i- Sh ay’
Also existing in the Bahá'í calendar system is a 19-year cycle called Váḥid and a 361-year (19x19) supercycle called Kull-i- Sh ay’ (literally, "All Things"). Each of the 19 years in a Vahid has been given a name as shown in the table below. The 9th Váḥid of the 1st Kull-i- Sh ay’ started on, and the 10th Váḥid will begin in 2015. The current Bahá'í year, year 164 BE, is year Javáb of the 9th Váḥid of the 1st Kull-i- Sh ay’. The 2nd Kull-i- Sh ay’ will begin in 2205.

The concept of a 19-year cycle has existed in some form since the 4th century BC The  represents an invented measure that approximately correlates solar and lunar markings of time and which appears in several calendar systems.


 * Years in a Váḥid:

Miscellaneous
For several early years after founded what would become Morey Watersports, the s his company produced were stamped with the B.E. year of production. This may have been the first "external" use of B.E. dates (and almost certainly the first on a commercial product).