Ayyam-i-Ha cookies

In my mind, Ayyam-i-Ha is almost synonymis with painting cookies. It was one of the activities we did each year when I was growing up, and something I looked forward to the most.

So, as one of our Ayyam-i-Ha activities this year, we brought in small presents to Isabela’s kindergarten classmates (playdough and a deck of cards) and I organized an edible art activity: PAINTING COOKIES. Yum.

I baked a huge batch of Roll Cookies from the Joy of Cooking recipe book and cut them into hearts and stars. Then I brought icing sugar in four different colors (the paint) and tons of paintbrushes from the dollar store. After they painted the cookies, they then decorated them with sprinkles.

I heard comments like, “This is the funnest activity ever!” and “I wish I could do this everyday!”

I had a little bit of anxiety about Fiona, wondering if she would scream the whole time we were there, since it was right during her normal nap time. Fortunately some intense affirmations of “Everything will go smoothly and Fiona will be peaceful,” as well as some extra guidance from above, enabled Fiona to take a short nap in the sling and then she was kept pretty busy and happy watching all of the activity in the classroom the rest of the time.

I also had one of the other stay-at-home moms help me out. There is a small handful of us, we’re definitely in the minority, but I couldn’t have done it without her.

Diego joined right in with all the activities and sat down with the class to eat the cookies at snack time.

Next year I’m planning to add a little card for the students that tells them and their parents what it is we were doing and why, since the memories of kindergarteners can last about 5 seconds.

“What did you do at school today?” “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

Or, as recounted to me by one of the parents when they asked their child: “What are the cookies and presents for?” “Oh, just because. They like to do that sort of thing.”

MORE ABOUT AYYAM-I-HA

And if you want to know a little more about Ayyam-i-Ha, here is a great write-up that I just found from Kurt Hein, father of luckybeans, and the witness at my wedding.

The Baha’i year consists of 361 days — 19 months of 19 days apiece. To bring it into conjunction with the 365-day Roman calendar, a four-day period is set aside in late February and early March. These four days, referred to as “the time outside of time,” stand apart from the rest of the Baha’i calendar and commence the holy day cycle.

Known as Ayyam-i-Ha (pronounced: Ah-YAHM-ee-hah), the four days are traditionally a time of gift-giving for Baha’is, ever since Baha’u'llah founded the faith in the 1840s in Iran. American Baha’i children often await Ayyam-i-Ha the way Christian and Jewish children anticipate Christmas or Hanukkah.

As with those holidays, Ayyam-i-Ha has another dimension: “The Baha’is view the world as a place where people have been bestowed with enormous gifts — the gifts of love and generosity, kindness and forbearance,” says Suheil Bushrui, a Baha’i scholar at the University of Maryland who was born in Nazareth. “Baha’u'llah speaks of the human being as a treasure house — as a mine of treasures. And as you go about your life, you begin to dig out the diamonds and rubies and pearls. And the days of Ayyam-i-Ha are days of giving love and generosity. Perhaps the world needs a little sharing.”

American Baha’i families typically visit nursing homes or clean up neighborhood parks during Ayyam-i-Ha. “We’re supposed to do all those things all year-round,” says Jean Quinn, a former Catholic who converted to the Baha’i faith with her husband, Mike. “But it’s like Christmas — we finally bring the toys over to the homeless center.”