Note 107

107. first day of &Ridvan # 75

This is a reference to the arrival of &Baha'u'llah and His companions in the &Najibiyyih Garden outside the city of +P213 &Baghdad, subsequently referred to by the &Baha'is as the Garden of &Ridvan. This event, which took place thirty-one days after &Naw-Ruz, in April 1863, signalized the commencement of the period during which &Baha'u'llah declared His Mission to His companions. In a Tablet, He refers to His Declaration as "the Day of supreme felicity" and He describes the Garden of &Ridvan as "the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of His Name, the All-Merciful". &Baha'u'llah spent twelve days in this Garden prior to departing for Istanbul, the place to which He had been banished.

The Declaration of &Baha'u'llah is celebrated annually by the twelve-day &Ridvan Festival, described by Shoghi Effendi as "the holiest and most significant of all &Baha'i festivals" (see notes 138 and 140).