Picnics, pot-lucks and prayers: how Australia’s regional areas celebrated the Baha’i new year

Regional and rural centres across Australia have marked the beginning of the Baha’i new year – or Naw Ruz – with celebrations befitting of their own reality and conducive to joy, fellowship and unity. 

Naw Ruz, which translates to “new day” in Farsi, is celebrated at the completion of the 19-day Baha’i Fast and marks the beginning of the new Baha’i calendar year. 

In Alice Springs, about 40 friends, mostly children, gathered for a new year celebration that was about “chicken and chocolate”. “A couple of days later, we had a separate video presentation/devotional/pot-luck which was more about the sacredness of Naw Ruz,” one of the participants shared. He said he also planned to continue the celebrations at the caravan park where he was staying.

In Port Hedland, 15 hours north of Perth in Western Australia, the Naw Ruz gathering featured a program of prayers and Baha’i readings and a “wonderful shared meal together”. One participant shared that guests thought about ways to “celebrate our Holy Days as the most important dates in the year.” 

“How do we prepare individually and collectively for the Fast … as well as all the Holy Days? And how can we try to invite [all our friends] to these precious events?”

In Launceston, Tasmania, the Baha’is and their friends celebrated Naw Ruz with a picnic lunch at a popular local nature reserve. One participant shared that the “joyous lunch was enjoyed by all to celebrate the new year”.

A picnic at a local park was also held in Townsville, northeast Queensland. Attended by 75 people “from every corner of the world, culture, age group and religious background”, the program included prayers and readings in the park and a few presentations from the junior youth and others about the significance of Naw Ruz. 

The picnic was accompanied by some activities like a simple drama workshop, some soccer, and downball. “Everyone was explicitly encouraged to talk to people they didn’t know and this happened beautifully,” one participant explained. “At the end a few families went for a swim in the nearby public pool.”

The regional city of Ballarat welcomed more than 110 friends to its celebration, which was also promoted as part of the council’s Harmony Festival. 

Friends of all cultural backgrounds and faiths attended the event, which was completely led by the community’s children and junior youth.  

The program featured a smorgasbord of food, musical performances and prayers by the children and junior youth, and a special origami activity.

While some celebrations were larger, others were smaller but no less profound, reflecting the spirit of unity and love that animates the Baha’i Faith.

In the Western Australian town of Northam, two friends lunched at a local cafe, in the town of Whyalla, South Australia, three friends gathered for prayers and afternoon tea, and in the small community of Alexandrina, the new year was celebrated with an intimate program of songs and prayers in Strathalbyn. Refreshments included fresh produce from gardens “including figs that were so sweet they tasted like jam, rockmelons, watermelons and organic tomatoes, as well as homemade dips and cakes,” one participant mentioned. 

“One of our members has Parkinson’s and he uses a wheelchair, yet they made the effort to drive almost an hour to attend this celebration.”

In Wongan Hills, the Baha’i community invited their friends to a ‘tapas’ evening with friends contributing food to the evening. The program began with a short discussion of Baha’i New Year and the fasting period that precedes it and guests then spent the next couple of hours in fellowship, looking forward to the next gathering at Ridvan – the Baha’i Holy Day celebrating the declaration of the Faith’s founder, Baha’u’llah.

There are no strict formulas or rules when it comes to marking Baha’i Holy Days. Each individual and community can decide how they wish to mark the special period with friends and loved ones as they learn to read the reality of their own neighbourhoods.   

Naw Ruz is celebrated in multiple regions across Asia and the Middle East and is one of the Holy Days celebrated in the Baha’i calendar.