Baha’is throughout Australia are observing their annual fast, an important time for prayer and reflection.
The fast, prescribed by the faith’s founder, Baha’u’llah, involves Baha’is between the ages of 15 and 70 abstaining from food and drink between sunrise and sunset.
The fasting began on March 2 and continues until March 20.
Fasting is considered a personal spiritual obligation. People who are ill, travelling, pregnant or engaged in hard physical labour need not fast.
The author of a blog for the Web site of the Australian Baha’i Community, Keith McDonald, writes that fasting is a time for inner reflection and meditation, away from the day-to-day frenzy of contemporary life.
He says that fasting helps him curb the modern tendency of indulging in excessive consumption of food and drink, TV and internet, and shopping.
“Fasting, I hasten to add, is not exclusive to this faith because all the major religions practise some form of it,” he said.
The media showed interest this year in the start of the Baha’i fast, with live radio interviews of Baha’is conducted by ABC radio stations in Sydney and Brisbane.
The increasing use of social media has resulted in a new development around the world as Baha’is share experiences via Facebook and through special projects.
To read about the experiences during the fast of young Baha’is in Africa and the United States, click here.
When the fast ends, the new Baha’i year begins, and Baha’is and their friends throughout Australia and the rest of the world celebrate a holy day known as Naw Ruz (New Year).