[FESTIVALS; MEALS]

God appointed several festivals, or days of rest and worship, among the Jews, to perpetuate the memory of great events wrought in favor of them: the Sabbath commemorated the creation of the world; the Passover, the departure out of Egypt; the Pentecost, the law given at Sinai, etc. At the three great feasts of the year, the Passover, Pentecost, and that of Tabernacles, all the males of the nation were required to visit the temple, Exodus 23:14-17 De 16:16-17; and to protect their borders from invasion during their absence, the shield of a special providence was always interposed, Exodus 34:23-24. The other festivals were the Feast of Trumpets, or New Moon, Purim, Dedication, the Sabbath year, and the year of Jubilee. These are described elsewhere. The observance of these sacred festivals was adapted not merely to freshen the remembrance of their early history as a nation, but to keep alive the influence of religion and the expectation of the Messiah, to deepen their joy in God, to dispel animosities and jealousies, and to form new associations between the different tribes and families. See also Day of EXPIATION.

In the Christian church, we have no festival that clearly appears to have been instituted by our Savior, or his apostles; but as we commemorate his death as often as we celebrate his supper, he has hereby seemed to institute a perpetual feast. Christians have always celebrated the memory of his resurrection by regarding the Sabbath, which we see, from Revelation 1:10, was in John's time commonly called "the Lord's day." Feasts of love, Jude 1:12, were public banquets of a frugal kind, instituted by the primitive Christians, and connected by them with the celebration of the Lord's supper. The provisions were contributed by the more wealthy, and were common to all Christians, whether rich or poor, who chose to partake. Portions were also sent to the sick and absent members. These love-feasts were intended as an exhibition of mutual Christian affection; but they became subject to abuses, and were afterwards generally discontinued, 1 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.

The Hebrews were a hospitable people, and were wont to welcome their guests with a feast, and dismiss them with another, Genesis 19:3 31:27 Jud 6:19 2 Samuel 3:20 2 Kings 6:23. The returning prodigal was thus welcomed, Luke 15:23. Many joyful domestic events were observed with feasting: birthdays, etc., Genesis 21:8 40:20 Job 1:4 Matthew 14:6; marriages, Genesis 29:22 Jud 14:10 John 2:1-10; sheep shearing and harvesting, Jud 9:27 1 Samuel 25:2,36 2 Samuel 13:23. A feast was also provided at funerals, 2 Samuel 3:35 Jeremiah 16:7. Those who brought sacrifices and offerings to the temple were wont to feast upon them there, with joy and praise to God, De 12:6,7 1 Samuel 16:5 2 Samuel 6:19. They were taught to invite all the needy to partake with them, De 16:11; and even to make special feasts for the poor, De 12:17-19 14:28 26:12-15; a custom which the Savior specially commended, Luke 14:12-14.

The manner of holding a feast was anciently marked with great simplicity. But at the time of Christ many Roman customs had been introduced. The feast or "supper" usually took place at five or six in the afternoon, and often continued to a late hour. The guests were invited some time in advance; and those who accepted the invitation were again notified by servants when the hour arrived, Matthew 22:4-8 Luke 14:16-24. The door was guarded against uninvited persons; and was at length closed for the day by the hand of the master of the house, Matthew 25:10 Luke 13:24. Sometimes very large numbers were present, Esther 1:3,5 Luke 14:16-24; and on such occasions a "governor of the feast" was appointed, whose social qualities, tact, firmness, and temperance fitted him to preside, John 2:8. The guests were arranged with a careful regard to their claims to honor, Genesis 43:33 1 Samuel 9:22 Proverbs 25:6,7 Matthew 23:6 Luke 14:7; in which matter the laws of etiquette are still jealously enforced in the East. Sometimes the host provided light, rich, loose robes for the company; and if so, the refusing to wear one was a gross insult, Ecclesiastes 9:8 Matthew 22:11 Revelation 3:4,5. The guests reclined around the tables; water and perfumes were served to them, Mark 7:2 Luke 7:44-46; and after eating, the hands were again washed, a servant pouring water over them. During the repast and after it various entertainments were provided; enigmas were proposed, Jud 14:12; eastern tales were told; music and hired dancers, and often excessive drinking, etc., occupied the time, Isaiah 5:12 24:7-9 Am 6:5. See EATING, FOOD.

fests (mo`edh, "an appointed day" or "an assembling," chagh, from chaghagh, "to dance" or possibly "to make a pilgrimage"; tsom, "fast," ta`anith, "a day of affliction"):

I. PRE-EXILIC

A) Annual

1. Passover, 15th-22d Nican

2. Pentecost, 6th Ciwan) Pilgrimage

3. Tabernacles, 15th-22d Tishri) Festivals

4. Shemini `Atsereth, 23d Tishri

5. New Year, Feast of Trumpets, 1st Tishri

6. Atonement, 10th Tishri

B) Periodic

1. Weekly Sabbath

2. New Moon

3. Sabbath Year

4. Jubilee Year

II. POST-EXILIC

1. Feast of Dedication, 25th Kiclew

2. Fast of Esther, 13th 'Adhar

3. Feast of Purim, 14th 'Adhar

4. Fast of the Fourth Month, 17th Tammuz

5. Fast of the Fifth Month, 9th 'Abh

6. Fast of the Seventh Month, 3rd Tishri

7. Fast of the Tenth Month, 10th Tebheth

8. Feast of Acra, 23d Iyar

9. Feast of Nicanor, 18th 'Adhar

10. Feast of Woodcarrying, Midsummer Day, 15th 'Abh

11. New Year for Trees, 15th ShebhaT

12. Bi-weekly Fasts, Mondays and Thursdays after Festivals

13. Second Days of Festivals Instituted

14. New Modes of Observing Old Festivals Instituted

The Nature of the Hebrew Festivals:

The Hebrews had an abundance of holidays, some based, according to their tradition, on agriculture and the natural changes of times and seasons, some on historical events connected with the national or religious life of Israel, and still others simply on immemorial custom. in most instances two or more of these bases coexist, and the emphasis on the natural, the agricultural, the national, or the religious phase will vary with different writers, different context, or different times. Any classification of these feasts and fasts on the basis of original significance must therefore be imperfect.

We should rather classify them as preexilic and post-exilic, because the period of the Babylonian captivity marks a complete change, not only in the kinds of festivals instituted from time to time, but also in the manner of celebrating the old.

I. Pre-exilic.

The pre-exilic list includes the three pilgrimage festivals, the Passover week, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, together with the Eighth Day of Assembly at the conclusion of the last of these feasts, and New Year and Atonement Days, the weekly Sabbath and the New Moon.

1. Observances Common to All:

The preexilic festivals were "holy convocations" (Leviticus 23 Numbers 28). Special sacrifices were offered on them in addition to the daily offerings. These sacrifices, however, varied according to the character of the festival (Numbers 28; Numbers 29). On all of them trumpets (chatsotseroth) were blown while the burnt offerings and the peace-offerings were being sacrificed (Numbers 10:10). They were all likened to the weekly Sabbath as days of rest, on which there must be complete suspension of all ordinary work (Leviticus 16:29; Leviticus 23:7, 8, 21, 24, 25, 28, 35, 36).

2. Significance of the Festivals:

The three pilgrimage festivals were known by that name because on them the Israelites gathered at Jerusalem to give thanks for their doubly joyful character. They were of agricultural significance as well as commemorative of national events. Thus, the Passover is connected with the barley harvest; at the same time it is the zeman cheruth, recalling the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:6 Leviticus 23:5, 8 Numbers 28:16-25 Deuteronomy 16:1-8).

Pentecost has an agricultural phase as chagh habikkurim, the celebration of the wheat harvest; it has a religious phase as zeman mattan Thorah in the Jewish liturgy, based on the rabbinical calculation which makes it the day of the giving of the Law, and this religious side has so completely overshadowed the agricultural that among modern Jews the Pentecost has become "confirmation day" (Exodus 34:26 Leviticus 23:10-14 Numbers 28:26-31).

The Feast of Tabernacles is at once the general harvest festival, chagh he-'aciph, and the anniversary of the beginnings of the wanderings in the wilderness (Exodus 23:16 Leviticus 23:33 Deuteronomy 16:13-15). The Eighth Day of Assembly immediately following the last day of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36 Numbers 29:35 John 7:37) and closing the long cycle of Tishri festivals seems to have been merely a final day of rejoicing before the pilgrims returned to their homes.

New Year (Leviticus 23:23-25 Numbers 29:1-6) and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1; Leviticus 23:26-32 Numbers 29:7-11) marked the turning of the year; primarily, perhaps, in the natural phenomena of Palestine, but also in the inner life of the nation and the individual. Hence, the religious significance of these days as days of judgment, penitence and forgiveness soon overshadowed any other significance they may have had. The temple ritual for these days, which is minutely described in the Old Testament and in the Talmud, was the most elaborate and impressive of the year. At the same time Atonement Day was socially an important day of rejoicing.

In addition to these annual festivals the pre-exilic Hebrews celebrated the Sabbath (Numbers 28:9, 10 Leviticus 23:1-3) and the New Moon (Numbers 10:10; Numbers 28:11-15). By analogy to the weekly Sabbath, every seventh year was a Sabbath Year (Exodus 23:11 Leviticus 25:1-7 Deuteronomy 15:1), and every cycle of seven Sabbath years was closed with a Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:8-18) somewhat after the analogy of the seven weeks counted before Pentecost.

For further details of all of these preexilic festivals see the separate articles.

II. Post-exilic.

In post-exilic times important historical events were made the basis for the institution of new fasts and feasts. When the first temple was destroyed and the people were carried into captivity, "the sacrifice of the body and one's own fat and blood" were substituted for that of animals (see Talmud, Berakhoth 17a). With such a view of their importance, fasts of all sorts were as a matter of course rapidly multiplied. (Note that the Day of Atonement was the only pre-exilic fast.) Of these post-exilic fasts and feasts, the Feast of Dedication (1 Maccabees 4:52-59; John 10:22; Mishna, Ta`anith 2 10; Mo`edh QaTon 3 9; Josephus, Ant, XII, vii; Apion, II, xxxix) and the Feast of Purim (Esther 3:7; Esther 9:24; 2 Maccabees 15:36); and the fasts of the fourth (Zechariah 8:19; Jeremiah 39; 52; Mishna, Ta`anith 4 6), the fifth (Zechariah 7:3, 1; Zechariah 8:19; Ta`anith 4 6), the seventh (Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19 Jeremiah 41:1 2 Kings 25:25; Cedher `Olam Rabba' 26; Meghillath Ta`anith c. 12), the tenth months (Zechariah 8:19 2 Kings 25), and the Fast of Esther (Esther 4:16; Esther 9:31) have been preserved by Jewish tradition to this day. (The Feast of Dedication, the Feast of Purim and the Fast of Esther are described in separate articles.)

Significance:

The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months are based on historical incidents connected with one or more national calamities. In several instances the rabbis have by close figuring been able to connect with the dates of the fasts as well as the feasts other important national events than those for which the days were primarily instituted. Not less than four incidents are connected with the fasts of the fourth month (17th of Tammuz):

(a) on this day the Israelites made the golden calf;

(b) Moses broke the tables of law;

(c) the daily sacrifices ceased for want of cattle when the city was closely besieged prior to the destruction of Jerusalem; and

(d) on this day Jerusalem was stormed by Nebuchadnezzar.

The fast of the fifth month (9th day of 'Abh) receives its significance from the fact that the First Temple was destroyed upon this day by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Second Temple on the same day of the year by Titus. In addition it is said that on this day Yahweh decreed that those who left Egypt should not enter the land of promise; the day is also the anniversary of the capture of the city of Bether by the Emperor Hadrian. The fast of the seventh month (the 3rd day of Tishri) commemorates the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah. That of the tenth month (10th day of Tebheth) commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

Other fasts and feasts no doubt were instituted on similar occasions and received a local or temporary observance, for example, the Feast of Acra (1 Maccabees 13:50-52; compare 1:33), to celebrate the recapture of Acra ("the citadel") on the 23rd of 'Iyar 141 B.C., and the Feast of Nicanor, in celebration of the victory over Nicanor on the 13th day of 'Adhar 160 B.C. (1 Maccabees 7:49).

Several other festivals are mentioned in the Talmud and other post-Biblical writings which may have been of even greater antiquity. The Feast of Woodcarrying (Midsummer Day: Nehemiah 10:34; Josephus, BJ, II, vii, 6; Meghillath Ta`anith c.v, p. 32, Mishna, Ta`anith 4 8a), for example, is referred to as the greatest day of rejoicing of the Hebrews, ranking with Atonement Day. It was principally a picnic day to which a religious touch was given by making it the woodgatherers' festival for the Temple. A New Year for trees is mentioned in the Talmud (Ro'sh ha-Shdnah 1 1). The pious, according both to the Jewish tradition and the New Testament, observed many private or semi-public fasts, such as the Mondays, Thursdays and following Monday after Nisan and Tishri (the festival months: Luke 18:12 Matthew 9:14; Matthew 6:16 Mark 2:18 Luke 5:33 Acts 10:30; Meghillah 31a; Ta`anith 12a; Bdbha' Qama' 8 2). The day before Passover was a fast day for the firstborn (Copherim 21 3).

In post-Biblical times the Jews outside of Palestine doubled each of the following days: the opening and closing day of Passover and Tabernacles and Pentecost, because of the capheq, or doubt as to the proper day to be observed, growing out of the delays in the transmission of the official decree of the Sanhedhrin in each season. Differences in hours of sunrise and sunset between Palestine and other countries may have had something to do at least with the perpetuation of the custom. New Year's Day seems to have been doubled from time immemorial, the forty-eight hours counting as one "long day."

Many new modes of observance appear in post-exilic times in connection with the old established festivals, especially in the high festival season of Tishri. Thus the cimchath beth ha-sho'ebhah, "water drawing festival," was celebrated during the week of Tabernacles with popular games and dances in which even the elders took part, and the streets were so brilliantly illuminated with torches that scarcely an eye was closed in Jerusalem during that week (Talmud, Chullin).

The last day of Tabernacles was known in Talmudic times as yom chibbuT `arabhoth, from the custom of beating willow branches, a custom clearly antedating the various symbolical explanations offered for it. Its festivities were connected with the dismantling of the booth. In later times the day was known as hosha`na' rabba', from the liturgical passages beginning with the word hosha`na', recited throughout the feast and "gathered" on that day. The day after Tabernacles has been made cimchath Torah, the Feast of the Law, from the custom of ending on that day the cycle of fifty-two weekly portions read in the synagogues.

In general it may be said that although the actual observance has changed from time to time to meet new conditions, the synagogal calendar of today is made up of the same festivals as those observed in New Testament times.

Ella Davis Isaacs

INGATHERING, FEASTS OF

in'-gath-er-ing.

See FEASTS AND FASTS; BOOTH.

FASTS AND FEASTS

See FEASTS AND FASTS.

FEASTS, SEASONS FOR

Regulated by the sun and moon.

See ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 5.

2282. chag -- a festival gathering, feast, pilgrim feast
... Word Origin from chagag Definition a festival gathering, feast, pilgrim feast NASB
Word Usage feast (52), feasts (5), festival (1), festival sacrifice (1 ...
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