Garden of Ridvan: The Story of the Festival of Ridvan for Young Children

Alhan Rahimi, who you may remember from her children’s book about the Declaration of the Bab or her book about the Birth of the Bab, has just released a new work for little ones related to Baha’i history and its holy days. Her latest book, illustrated by Alina Onipchenko, is called Garden of Ridvan: The Story of the Festival of Ridvan for Young Children and it’s a fantastic resource.

Told from the perspective of one of the garden’s nightingales, this book features soft colorful images and repetition. Written with children around 5 years old or younger in mind, this book is sure to help foster an understanding of the beauty and significance of the Festival of Ridvan. 

The book describes the Festival of Ridvan, also known as the Most Great Festival, which commemorates an incredible period in history: it celebrates Baha’u’llah’s time in the garden of Ridvan on the outskirts of Baghdad in 1863 where He publicly declared His station as a Manifestation of God. The Ridvan Festival is 12 days long and when it is celebrated changes from year to year within the Gregorian calendar but according to the Badi or Baha’i calendar, it is always held from 13 Jalal (the month of Glory) until 5 Jamal (the month of Beauty).

You can purchase a copy of Garden of Ridvan: The Story of the Festival of Ridvan for Young Children here on Amazon or you can watch a read along of the story (in either English, French, Persian, Arabic, Spanish or Icelandic) on Alhan’s YouTube channel.

You can find our interview with Alhan about one of her other children’s books here: Mulla Husayn: A Book for Young Children by Alhan Rahimi

For more information and resources dedicated to the Festival of Ridvan, please visit this special Baha’i Blog resource page: About Ridvan

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.