World Calendars
Baháʼí calendar date today
The Baháʼí calendar, also called the Badíʿ calendar, has 19 months of 19 days plus 4 or 5 extra days. Years are counted from 1844, and each year begins at Naw-Rúz, the March equinox.
8 Qudrat 183 BE
Month of Power, Váḥid 10
- In the Gregorian calendar
- Wednesday 11 November 2026
- This day began
- At sunset on Tuesday 10 November 2026
- This day ends
- At sunset on Wednesday 11 November 2026, when it becomes 9 Qudrat 183 BE
- Year 183 BE began
- At sunset on Friday 20 March 2026
- Next new year
- At sunset on Saturday 20 March 2027 (in 129 days)
- This year has
- 365 days in 19 months
- Years count from
- 21 March 1844, Naw-Rúz in the year of the Báb's declaration
- Who uses it
- Baháʼís worldwide, for the Nineteen Day Feasts and holy days
- How it works
- 19 months of 19 days, plus 4 or 5 days of Ayyám-i-Há before the last month
- Years count from
- Naw-Rúz 1844, the year of the Báb's declaration (year 1 BE)
- Unusual detail
- Each day begins at sunset, and the New Year is set by the equinox in Tehran
Next holidays in this calendar
Today began last night
Birth of Baháʼu'lláh 8 Qudrat 183 BE
From sunset on 10 November 2026 · Baháʼí (Badíʿ)
129 days
Naw-Rúz (Baháʼí New Year) 1 Bahá 184 BE
From sunset on 20 March 2027 · Baháʼí (Badíʿ)
352 days
Birth of the Báb 15 ʻIlm 184 BE
From sunset on 29 October 2027 · Baháʼí (Badíʿ)
How the Baháʼí calendar works
The year has 19 months of 19 days each, 361 days in all. The intercalary days, Ayyám-i-Há, come between the 18th and 19th months and bring the year to 365 or 366 days. The 19th month, ʻAláʼ, is the month of the Fast. The month names mean words such as Splendour, Glory and Beauty.
| No. | Month | Arabic | Meaning | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bahá | بهاء | Splendour | 19 |
| 2 | Jalál | جلال | Glory | 19 |
| 3 | Jamál | جمال | Beauty | 19 |
| 4 | ʻAẓamat | عظمة | Grandeur | 19 |
| 5 | Núr | نور | Light | 19 |
| 6 | Raḥmat | رحمة | Mercy | 19 |
| 7 | Kalimát | كلمات | Words | 19 |
| 8 | Kamál | كمال | Perfection | 19 |
| 9 | Asmáʼ | اسماء | Names | 19 |
| 10 | ʻIzzat | عزة | Might | 19 |
| 11 | Mas͟híyyat | مشية | Will | 19 |
| 12 | ʻIlm | علم | Knowledge | 19 |
| 13 | Qudrat | قدرة | Power | 19 |
| 14 | Qawl | قول | Speech | 19 |
| 15 | Masáʼil | مسائل | Questions | 19 |
| 16 | S͟haraf | شرف | Honour | 19 |
| 17 | Sulṭán | سلطان | Sovereignty | 19 |
| 18 | Mulk | ملك | Dominion | 19 |
| - | Ayyám-i-Há | ايام الهاء | Days of Há | 4 or 5 |
| 19 | ʻAláʼ | علاء | Loftiness | 19 |
A Baháʼí day runs from sunset to sunset, so each date begins on the evening before the matching Western date. This page shows the date for today's daytime and the date that begins at sunset. Years are grouped into cycles of 19 called Váḥid, and 19 Váḥids make a Kull-i-Shayʼ of 361 years.
Variants and the method used here
Until 2015, Baháʼís in the West kept Naw-Rúz on 21 March and Ayyám-i-Há from 26 February to 1 March, while communities in the Middle East followed other customs. From Naw-Rúz 172 BE (2015), the Universal House of Justice applied one rule worldwide: Naw-Rúz is the day, from sunset to sunset in Tehran, that contains the March equinox. The number of days of Ayyám-i-Há follows from the date of the next Naw-Rúz.
The Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Baháʼu'lláh are now kept on the first and second days after the eighth new moon after Naw-Rúz, so they move between mid-October and mid-November. This page uses the 2015 rule from 2015 onward, matched to the dates published by the Baháʼí World Centre, and the earlier Western rule for 1844 to 2014.
A short history
The calendar was introduced by the Báb in the 1840s, who took the month names from a Shiʻi dawn prayer for Ramadan. Baháʼu'lláh confirmed and adopted it, fixing its start at the year of the Báb's declaration, 1844. In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas he set Naw-Rúz on the day the sun enters Aries, which Baháʼís take to be the March equinox.
In a letter of 10 July 2014 the Universal House of Justice chose Tehran, the birthplace of Baháʼu'lláh, as the reference point for the equinox. The change took effect at sunset on 20 March 2015, the end of year 171.
Sources
How this site calculates the date: 19 months of 19 days and 4 or 5 days of Ayyám-i-Há. Since 2015 the year begins on the day, sunset to sunset in Tehran, that holds the March equinox (dates matched to the Baháʼí World Centre's tables); before 2015 the Western rule of 21 March.