forded bj' friends, or found in tents erected for the pur. pose in and around Jerusalem. See Hospit.vlity.
Besides their religious purpose, the great festivals must have had an important bearing on the mainte- nance of a feeling of national unity. This may be traced in the apprehensions of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii, 2G, 27), and in the attempt at reformation by Heze- kiah (2 Chron. xxx, 1), as well as in the necessitj' which, in later times, was felt by the Roman govern- ment of mustering a considerable military force at Je- rusalem during the festivals (Josephus, Ant. xvii, 9, 3; xvii, 10, 2; compare Matt, xxvi, 5; Luke xiii, 1). Another effect of these festivals Michaelis has found in the furtherance of internal commerce. They would give rise to something resembling our modern fairs. Among the Mohanmiedans similar festivals have had this effect. In Article 199 the same learned writer treats of the important influence which the festivals had on the Calendar, and the correction of its errors. See Year.
The agricultural significance of the three great fes- tivals is clearly set forth in the account of the Jewish sacred year contained in Lev. xxiii. The prominence which, not only in that chapter, but elsewhere, is given to this significance, in the names by which Pentecost and Tabernacles are often called, and also liy tiie offer- ing of "the first-fruits of wheat-harvest" at Pentecost (Exod. xxxiv, 22), and of "the first of the first-fruits" at the Passover (Exod. xxiii, 19; xxxiv, 26), might easih' suggest that the origin of the feasts was patri- archal (Ewald, Alter thiinur, p. 385), and that the his- torical associations with which Moses endowed them were grafted upon their primitive meaning. It is per- haps, however, a difficulty in the way of this view that we should rather look for the institution of agricultu- ral festivals among an agricultural than a pastoral people, such as the Israelites and their ancestors were before the settlement in the land of promise. The times of the festivals were evidently ordained in w'is- dom, so as to interfere as little as possible with the in- dustry of the people. The Passover was held just be- fore the work of harvest commenced, Pentecost at the conclusion of the corn-harvest and before the vintage, the feast of Tabernacles after all the fruits of the ground were gathered in. In winter, when travelling was difficult, there were no festivals. See Se.\sons.
(1.) The first of these three great festivals, that of Unleavened Bread, called also the Pasfover, was kept in the month Abib, in commemoration of the rescue of the Israelites by Jehovah out of Egypt, which took place in that month. The ceremonies that weie con- nected with it will be detailed under the head Pass- over. Every one who was ritually clean, and not on a journey, and yet omitted to keep the Passover, was to be cut off from the people. Anj' one who was disabled for the observance, either by uncleanness or being on a journey, was to keep the Passover on the fourteenth day of the next month. In order to make the season more remarkable, it was ordained that henceforward the month in which it took place should be reckoned the first of the national religious year (Exod. xii, 2). From this time, accordingh", the j'ear l)egan in the month Abib, or Nisan (IVtarch — April), while the civil vear continued to be reckoned from Tisri (September— October) (Exod. xii, ?, 14, 27, 43- 49; Lev. xxiii, o; Numb, xxviii. 16; Deut. xvi, 1-7). The Passover lasted one week, including two Sabbaths (De Wette, Archildog. p. 214). The first day and the last were holy, that is, devoted to the observances in the ])ublic temple, and to rest from all labor (Exod. xii, 16; Lev. xxiii, 6; Numb, xxviii, 18; Deut. xvi, 8). The modern Jews oliscrve the loth and 16th, and the 20th and 21st-days of Nisan, as holy days in con- nection with this festival. See Nisan.
On the day after the Sabbath, on the feast of Passo- ver, a sheaf of the first-fruits of the barley harvest was to be brought to the priest to be waved before Je-
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hovah, accompanied by a burnt-offering. Till this sheaf was presented, neither bread nor parched co:n, nor full ripe ears of the harvest, could be eaten (Exod. xii, 15-20; xiii, G-10 ; Lev. xxiii, 6-8; Deut. xvi, 2- 8; Numb, xxviii, 17-25). See Harvest.
(2.) The feast of Pentecost or of Weeks was kept to Jehovah at the end of seven weeks from that da}' of the festival of Unleavened Bread, on wluch the sheaf was presented. On the morrow after the seventh com- plete week, or on the fiftieth diiy, two wave loaves were presented as first-fruits of the wheat-harvest, to- gether with a burnt-otiering, a sin-offering, and a peace- offerin/, etc. The day was a holy convocation, in which no servile work was done. The festival lasted but one day. The Jews of the present day, however, hold it during; two successive days. It is said to have been dcsiLjned to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai (Deut. xvi, 9-11 ; Lev. xiii, 15-21 ; Numb, xxviii, 26-31 ; xv, 17-21). See Pextecost.
(3.) The feast of Ingathering or of Tabernacles be- gan on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and contiuucd eight days, the first and last being Sabbatlis. During tiie feast all native Israelites dwelt in booths made of the shoots of beautiful trees, palm branches, boughs of thick-leaved trees, and of the willows of the broolc, when they rejoiced with their families, with the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, be- fore Jehovah. Various offerings were made. At the end of every seven years, in the year of release, at the feast of Tabernacles, the law was required to be read by the priests in the hearing of all the Israelites (Deut. xvi, 13-15; xxxi, 10-13; Lev. xxiii, 39-43, 83-36; Numb, xxix, 12-38, 40). The feast of Tabernacles was appointed partly to be an occasion of annual thanks- giving after the ingathering of the harvest (Exod. xxxiv, 22; Lev. xxiii, 39; Deut. xvi, 13), and partly to remind the Israelites that their fathers had lived in tents in the wilderness (Lev. xxiii, 40-43). This feast took place in the end of the j^ear, September or Octo- ber. The modern Jews observe it for seven success- ive days, the first two and the last two of Avhich are . holy days. See Tabernacles, P'east of. . (4.) The festival of New Year's Day {Eosh hash-Sha- nah in the Talmud) is held by modern Jews for two days at the beginning of Tisri. See Trumpets, Feast