Annual Calendars
One of the puzzles of displaying a calendar is how to arrange the days and month in a meaningful way.
Over the years, we have become used to a layout that shows rows of weeks, grouped into months of about 30 days. However, there are many ways to layout the days and the months! See some examples in this collection of over 1000 calendars layouts that I've collected on Pinterest!
The Badíʿ (Wondrous) calendar has 19 months of 19 days in each year, with a few extra Intercalary days. The layout of the calendar should provide a sense of position in the month and in the year, enhance our sense of the flow of time, and expose the rhythm of the days and months.
The Badíʿ calendar is quite simple:
Start the year on the vernal equinox
Use the day (between sunsets) when the vernal equinox happens in Tehran, Iran.
Have 19 months of 19 days each
Leave a gap between the 18th and 19th month so that the 19th month ends on the day before the vernal equinox.
As humans, we must refer to a calendar to know the current day and month, no matter what calendar system we use!
Below you can see three examples of calendars that are included in the Badí' Web Extension.
Some of the goals for these calendars are:
Be primarily focused on the Badí' calendar and not influenced by the 12-month Gregorian calendar.
Cross-reference to Gregorian days, since most people (and computers!) know that calendar.
Indicate that the Badí' starts at sunset a few hours before the Gregorian day.
Show weeks, starting with Saturday, but don't organize the calendar around weeks.
Show the 4 groups of months in the year - named by the Báb as the elements of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.
See one source quoted on page 75 of "Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb" by Nader Saiedi:
The first three months are the fire of God, the next four months, the air of eternity, and the subsequent six months are the water of divine unity which streameth forth upon all souls, descending from the atmosphere of eternity, which in turn is derived from the fire of God. The last six months pertain to earthly existence, whereby all that hath appeared from these three elements may be established within the element of dust, through which the fruit will be harvested.
See more of this at https://sites.google.com/site/badicalendartools/home/web-extension/annual-calendars
An extensive review of the symbolism of the Badíʿ Calendar can be found in this essay: "A Wondrous New Day: The Numerology of Creation and 'All Things' in the Badí' Calendar"
The colors used in these calendars were chosen simply according to the names of the groups: Fire=red, Air=white, Water=blue, Earth=green.
There are other ways of referring to the "four stages of spiritual reality", including 4 colors not related to the element names.
Since the days in a month also follow the same names as the months, apply the 4 groups to the days in a month as well.
Please also see another discussion on ideas for formatting the calendar.
And see this Pinterest page for more images of Badí' calendars.
Format 1
This is the "year-at-a-glance" layout.
The months are clearly grouped into their elements.
The Gregorian dates are shown below the Badí' days, but offset a bit, showing that they do not start at the same time.
Format 2
My favourite! - Glen. See a description of how this came to be.
This monthly layout contains just the days in one month. Each month can be printed or displayed by itself.
The pattern of days is reflective of the pattern of the elements that define the year - the first 3 represent "fire", the next 4 represent "air", the next 6 for "water" and the last 6 for "earth". This calendar arranges the days in the same way - in rows of 3, 4, 6, and 6.
Each box is one complete Badí' day, from sunset to sunset.
At the top of the box is the time of sunset that starts the day, along with the weekday of that sunset.
Below and to the right is a display of the Gregorian day that starts at midnight, with the weekday name of that day and the Badí' calendar weekday name.
To the left, under the day number, is the name of this day in the month.
The time in the bottom-right corner shows the ending sunset time.
Under the name of the month is found the Arabic name of the month along with the Gregorian month(s) included.
And below them is the month number and its element. In this example "Words" is the 7th month, and is in the Air element.
Here is an animated display of these features:
Format 3
This layout follows the Gregorian calendar but overlays the Badí' days and months.
The 4 elements are not represented and the colors of the months have no meaning.
Each Gregorian day has dark bands across it indicating the time before sunrise and after sunset. In northern countries, these bands can become quite narrow during the summer!
The Gregorian day number is shown in dark number while the Badí' month number is shown in white in the top-left corner and bottom-right corner of each box.
The Badí day starts at sunset in one box and continues through to sunset of the next box, as is seen where the Holy Day is displayed.
This format does not illustrate the rhythm and structure of the Badí calendar.
These calendars are each available in the Badí' Web Extension. When you use the Web Extension, the times shown will be customized for your location!