Baha'i era has started on May 23, 166 years ago

On 23 May, Baha'is around the world will celebrate the 165th anniversary of the birth of the Baha'i Faith.

The holy day marks the Declaration of the Bab, who in 1844 announced that He was a new divine Messenger, sent to herald a new age for humanity and to prepare the way for Baha'u'llah, the universal Messenger of God expected by people of all religions.

The Baha'i calendar dates from 1844, with the year 166 B.E. (Baha'i era) now under way.

"THE evidences which the people demanded from the Apostle of God through their idle fancy have mostly been rejected in the Qur'án, even as in the Surih of the Children  of Israel [Surih XVII] it hath been revealed: 'And they say, by no means will we believe on thee till thou cause a fountain to gush forth for us from the earth; or till thou have a garden of palm trees and vines, and thou cause rivers to spring forth from the midst thereof in abundance; or thou cause the heaven to fall down upon us, as thou hast given out, in pieces; or thou bring God and the angels to vouch for thee; or thou have a house of gold; or thou ascend to heaven nor will we believe in thine ascension, till thou send down to us a book which we may read. Say, Praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, an apostle?'

Now be fair! The Arabs uttered such words, and now, prompted by thy desire, thou dost demand yet other things? What is the difference between thee and them? If thou dost ponder a while, it will be evident that it is incumbent upon a lowly servant to acquiesce to whatever proof God hath appointed, and not to follow his own idle fancy. If the wishes of the people were to be gratified not a single disbeliever would remain on earth. For once the Apostle of God had fulfilled the wishes of the people they would unhesitatingly have embraced His Faith. May God save thee, shouldst thou seek any evidence according to thy selfish desire; rather it behooveth thee to uphold the unfailing proof which God hath appointed. The object of thy belief in God is but to secure His good-pleasure. How then dost thou seek as a proof of thy faith a thing which hath been and is contrary to His good-pleasure?   

RID thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, enrich thyself in God by dispensing with all else besides Him, and recite this prayer:

Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord, sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent....   (The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 121)