I’ve been working on this Ayyam-i-Ha Calendar for the last week and it is finally finished and up in our kitchen!
Ayyam-i-Ha (Intercalary Days) is the time of gift giving, celebration and service for Baha’is. It lasts for 4 days (5 on leap year) from February 26 – March 1.
I was inspired to create this 19-day countdown to Ayyam-i-Ha calendar from an Advent calendar that I saw on An Ordinary Mom’s blog.
One of the things that makes holidays so special is the traditions that we create around them. My mother was so great at creating memorable traditions for Ayyam-i-Ha when I was growing up, that it has been so easy and natural for me to carry them on with my own kids. We have an extra large Ayyam-i-Ha banner (that my mom made and we used when I was growing up!) and we hang it up in our kitchen. Every day there is a small present inside (chapstick, stickers, etc) as well as a treasure hunt clue. The treasure hunt takes the kids around the house and the final clue leads them to a larger present.
We also decorate the house, listen to Ayyam-i-Ha music, go to parties, do face painting and decorate cookies with colored icing sugar and sprinkles (hence the images on the Ayyam-i-Ha countdown calendar.) When I was growing up we would always visit the seniors home and visit with them and sing for them. This year as a service project and party, we will be decorating cookies with Isabela’s kindergarten classroom.
We will also be adding a new tradition. Each day the kids will get a little sweet treat from the Ayyam-i-Ha Calendar! Oftentimes the anticipation is just as exciting as the actual event.
These were from an Ayyam-i-Ha celebration at our house two years ago.
My parents even attended the party via iChat on the computer!
14 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 6, 2009 at 9:10 pm
anordinarymom
Wow, I love it! You are so talented!
January 6, 2009 at 9:22 pm
mudspice
Thank you for the inspiration!
January 7, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Lucie
Hi Erika,
I love your Ayyam-i-Ha calender. What a great idea!
January 7, 2009 at 8:13 pm
QueenHoneyB
That calendar is so cool! I love the banner idea, too. I remember always looking forward to Ayyam-i-Ha. Some things we did the same each year, and some things we did differently each time. I am really looking forward to starting some fun Ayyam-i-Ha traditions now that Svara is a little older.
January 8, 2009 at 6:52 am
tiredofsmiling
I love it! Thank you for posting about your Ayyam-i-ha traditions! We didn’t have any really growing up and I’ve been looking for ideas for our little family. i would love to see a picture of your big banner – that one sounds like so much fun.
January 8, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Juliet
thanks for the inspiration… hopefully mine will be ready in time!!! maybe I will go and work on it now.
January 9, 2009 at 6:18 am
Richard
I remember when we used to make them for the whole community. Way to go.
January 9, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Angie
beautiful!!!
January 9, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Liliana
What a great idea! Parents didn’t have a lot of traditions, but I think it would be fun to start one with our little family. Seems like kids love traditions (and adults too!)
January 9, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Cheryl Nowshadi
Hi Erika,
Such a great idea! Years ago my mom and I created ‘Fast Banners” for each of the girls, based on the advent calendar too. I wanted to be able to have the girls be aware of the difference between Ayyam-i-Ha and the 19 Day Fast – and each pocket would have instructions for them – help make supper, learn a new prayer, or questions – explain who Baha’u'llah was, etc. They still look forward to it – and it has impressed the importance of this spiritual time on them. (and on the 20th day – Naw Ruz- they would find a surprise in the little pocket!). Clearly, great minds think alike!
Love Cheryl
January 12, 2009 at 2:31 am
Debby Hastings
LOVE your Ayyam-i-Ha felt calendar! Great idea to make it permanent. The decorations are such fun to take out each year, too. You are really planning ahead by doing it now, and not leaving it to the last-minute scramble. I’m so happy to see you are keeping up with the family traditions! Such good memories.
January 17, 2009 at 3:51 pm
mudspice
Thank you so much everyone! I love the extra additions that added to yours, Cheryl. I’m definitely going to try that out as well with my kids. Little service notes and little Baha’i class notes. What a great idea!
February 2, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Ayyam-i-Ha Calendar! « hoogli art
[...] Well, I finally finished it and just in time for the beginning of the Baha’i month before Ayyam-i-Ha. In a few days I will be putting a little treat (like some dried cranberries or banana chips) in each pocket for Olee for each of the 19 days before Ayyam-i-Ha starts. I got the idea from my sister who made a really beautiful one. [...]
February 27, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Happy Ayyam-i-Ha! « mud spice: mucking about in art and motherhood
[...] alongside the pocket banner was the Ayyam-i-Ha countdown calendar that I made last month. Juliet also made a beautiful Safari-theme calendar, since Olee is quite in [...]