✦ zenith calendar · the bahá’í almanac
the badí‘ calendar in one quiet layer of your sky, each holy day explained in its own tradition's words.
bahá’í is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the holy days of the badí‘ calendar, as they are published for the whole bahá’í world.
naw-rúz falls on the vernal equinox as reckoned for ṭihrán, and the twin holy birthdays follow the new moon, so the days move by a day from year to year. the dates are copied from the published table, not worked out on your phone, and each day begins at sunset the evening before. tap a holy day and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
solar · the badí‘ calendar, with the twin holy birthdays by the new moon
the first day after the eighth new moon after naw-rúz
the birth of the báb, siyyid ‘alí-muḥammad, in shíráz in 1819: the first of the twin holy birthdays, which bahá’u’lláh wrote are accounted as one in the sight of god.
work is set aside and the two days are kept as one joyful festival, with prayers, readings, music and gatherings that welcome family, friends and neighbours.
the second day after the eighth new moon after naw-rúz
the birth of bahá’u’lláh, mírzá ḥusayn-‘alí, in ṭihrán in 1817, the second of the twin holy birthdays. bahá’ís hold him to be the messenger of god for this age.
work is set aside, and the day crowns the twin holy birthdays with celebration: devotional gatherings, readings from his writings, music and shared food, open to everyone.
the spring equinox, the first day of the month of bahá
the bahá’í new year, kept on the spring equinox. it ends the fast and is a holy day on which bahá’ís set work aside.
bahá’ís gather with family, friends and neighbours for prayers, readings from the holy writings, music and a shared meal, often after the last day of fasting.
the most great festival · the king of festivals
the first day of the riḍván festival
the first day of riḍván, the holiest of the bahá’í festivals. it marks the day in april 1863 that bahá’u’lláh, in a garden across the tigris from baghdad, made known his mission to his companions.
work is set aside and communities gather for prayer, readings and celebration. the riḍván season is also when bahá’ís elect their local and national spiritual assemblies, the councils that guide each community.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, bahá’í puts its holy days on their dates on that ring, in mint. its mark is ☆, a star.
each holy day carries three short paragraphs in its notes: what it is, where it comes from as its own tradition tells it, and how it is kept.
bahá’í arrives locked, so nothing in it changes by accident. the lock guards your hand, not your eye: you can still read it, shine it or eclipse it. one tap unlocks it, and then it is yours to rename, recolour or add to.
tap its chip in the legend to eclipse it (kept, but not drawn) and tap again to bring it back. nothing is deleted either way.
bahá’í shares one sky with your own commitments. like every almanac that comes with the app, it never counts toward the almanacs you can make for free, and it lives on your phone: zenith calendar has no server of its own.
✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it
bahá’í is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.
the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.
drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.
tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.
tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.
zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.
bahá’í is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
bahá’í ·
The Birth of the Báb falls on 10 November 2026 and the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh on 11 November 2026. In 2027 they fall on 30 and 31 October.
The Bahá’í new year, Naw-Rúz, falls on 21 March 2027, the spring equinox as reckoned for Ṭihrán. In 2028 it falls on 20 March.
The First Day of Riḍván falls on 21 April 2027. In Zenith Calendar it sits on the ring of your year in the bahá’í almanac.
Naw-Rúz falls on the vernal equinox as reckoned for Ṭihrán, and the Twin Holy Birthdays follow the new moon, so the days move by a day from year to year.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called bahá’í: the holy days of the Badí‘ calendar, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
The bahá’í almanac holds the holy days of the Badí‘ calendar, whose year opens with Naw-Rúz. The nowruz almanac holds the spring new year as the countries that keep it publish it. They are separate almanacs, so you light the one you keep.
They are copied from the published table of the Bahá’í calendar, not worked out on your phone. Each day begins at sunset the evening before.