Marriage

Author(s): Natubhai Shah
Publisher: UK Jain Academy

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Social life
Bahá'ís are encouraged to consort with all people in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. They endeavour to spiritually uplift society at large, by offering small community study circles, devotional gatherings, neighborhood moral and spiritual education classes for children, and gatherings for youth. Learning is facilitated by local community members who complete tutor training programs and subsequently engage the wider community in creative, culturally appropriate applications of development activities.
Community life
The centre piece of Bahá'í community life is the nineteen day feast. Held once every 19 days, it is the community 's regular gathering. The Baha'i Faith works on a calendar of nineteen months of nineteen days, with either four or five Intercalary Days between. The number nineteen was considered sacred to the Bab, the forerunner to Baha'u'llah. Welcoming to adults and children, the nineteen day feast promotes and sustains the unity of the local community.
Sacred Days
There are few rituals in the Bahá'í Faith and no clergy. There are eleven holy days in the Bahá'í calendar. Work or study should be suspended on nine of those days. On these days, the community holds observances that are open to all.
Death
Bahá'ís believe that the soul is eternal and that the physical body that remains should be treated with respect. Baha'i funeral services are simple and dignified. the conduct of the service and arrangements for interment may be left to the relatives of the deceased in consultation with the local Bahá'í community (LSA). Embalming and cremation are prohibited. The body should be buried within one hour's journey from the place of death.
Baha'is and other faiths
Baha'is have a very open attitude to other faiths, and are expected to treat members of other faiths with friendship and peace. Baha'i teaching makes it clear that no group should regard itself as superior to any other and that any law or practice that causes a group of human beings to be at a disadvantage is fundamentally immoral and wrong. The Baha'i community has been particularly active in the field of human rights and believes that the world should create a 'culture of human rights'
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