Spring Brings New Year for Members of Bahá'í Faith

April 4, 2007

Author: LINDA DeNICOLA

Source: The Independent

http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2007/0404/Front_Page/016.html

It's the dawn of a new year for members of the Bahá'í faith, of which there are reputed to be 5 million across the globe.

The first day of the Bahá'í calendar was March 21. Monmouth County Bahá'ís, like their fellow Bahá'ís in other countries, broke their 19-day fast on that day. The Bahá'í new year, known as Naw-Ruz, is meant to coincide with the beginning of spring.

On March 24, the Bahá'ís celebrated the new year at Camp Sacajawea Girl Scout Activity Center in Howell with a home-cooked dinner and children's entertainment.

Red Bank residents Patty and Jim Whyte are both Bahá'ís who met at a Bahá'í event in 1977.

"He was just investigating the Bahá'í faith at the time. Curiously, he had taken out some books at his college library. Actually, he took out all of the books, read them all and decided he was already a Bahá'í in his heart. Then he came and found the Bahá'í community," she said.