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The Báb has regarded the solar year, of 365 days, 5 hours, and fifty odd minutes, as consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of certain intercalary days. He has named the New Year's Day, which is the day of Náw-Rúz, the day of Bahá, of the month of Bahá. He has ordained the month of `Alá' to be the month of fasting, and has decreed that the day of Náw-Rúz should mark the termination of that period. As the Báb did not specifically define the place for the four days and the fraction of a day in the Badí` Calendar, the people of the Bayán were at a loss as to how they should regard them.The revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in the city of `Akká resolved this problem and settled the issue. Bahá`u'lláh designated those days as the Ayyám-i-Há and ordained that they should immediately precede the month of `Alá', which is the month of fasting. He enjoined upon His followers to devote these days to feasting, rejoicing, and charity. Immediately upon the termination of these intercalary days, Bahá`u'lláh ordained the month of fasting to begin. I have heard it stated that some of the people of the Bayán, the followers of Mírzá Yahyá, have regarded these intercalary days as coming immediately after the month of `Alá', thus terminating their fast five days before the day of Náw-Rúz.This, notwithstanding the explicit text of the Bayán which states that the day of Náw-Rúz must needs be the first day of the month of Bahá, and must follow immediately after the last day of the month of `Alá'. Others, aware of this contradiction, have started their fasting on the fifth day of the month of `Alá', and included the intercalary days within the period of fasting.
Every fourth year the number of the intercalary days is raised from four to five. The day of Náw-Rúz falls on the 21st of March only if the vernal Equinox precedes the setting of the sun on that day. Should the vernal Equinox take place after sunset, Náw-Rúz will have to be celebrated on the following day.
The Báb has, moreover, in His Writings revealed in the Arabic tongue, divided the years following the date of His Revelation into cycles of nineteen years each. The names of the years in each cycle are as follows:
| 1. Alif | A. |
| 2. Bá' | B. |
| 3. Ab | Father. |
| 4. Dál | D. |
| 5. Báb | Gate. |
| 6. Váv | V. |
| 7. Abad | Eternity. |
| 8. Jád | Generosity. |
| 9. Bahá | Splendour. |
| 10. Hubb | Love. |
| 11. Baháj | Delightful. |
| 12. Javáb | Answer. |
| 13. Ahad | Single. |
| 14. Vahháb | Bountiful. |
| 15. Vidád | Affection. |
| 16. Badí' | Beginning. |
| 17. Bahí | Luminous. |
| 18. Abhá | Most Luminous. |
| 19. Váhid | Unity. |
Each cycle of nineteen years is called a Váhid. Nineteen cycles constitute a period called Kull-i-Shay'. The numerical value of the word Váhid is nineteen, that of Kull-i-Shay' is 361. Váhid signifies unity, and is symbolic of the unity of God.
For instance, the date of the 21st of April, 1930, which is the first day of Ridván, and which according to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas must coincide with the `thirteenth day of the second Bahá'í month,' and which fell this year (1930) on Monday, would, according to the system of the Badí` Calendar, be described as follows: `The day of Kamál, the day of Qudrat, of the month of Jalál, of the year Baháj, of the fifth Váhid, of the first Kull-i-Shay'.'
:)
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