Ancient Jewish Festivals

Agricultural, Mythological, and Historical Significance of the Festivals

The Israelite annual festivals were originally agricultural, marking the cycles of growth in the fields and the life cycle of flocks and herds. The vernal equinox marked the end of the rainy season in the land of Israel, the time for harvesting new grain and firstfruits, and the birthing season for domesticated animals, while the autumnal equinox marked the time for harvesting summer crops, when harvesters erected booths in the fields to stay there overnight, as well as the beginning of the rainy season. These agricultural origins can still be seen in the brief festival calendars in the book of Exodus (Exodus 23:14–17; 34:18–23). But biblical literature also mythologizes these festivals, associating them with aspects of the nation-forming narrative of the Exodus from Egypt. Thus, the Passover sacrifice of protection is associated with the death of the Egyptian firstborn and the redemption of the Israelite firstborn, and the feast of unleavened bread (made from the newly harvested unfermented grain) is explained as resulting from the haste with which the Israelites had to leave Egypt, such that their dough had no time to rise (Exodus 12; Deuteronomy 16:1–3). Similarly, the agricultural booths of Sukkot are explained as commemorating the booths in which the Israelites are said to have dwelled during their desert wanderings after the exodus from Egypt (Leviticus 23:43). Shavuot is not yet mythologized in biblical literature, but rabbinic literature later identifies it as the Festival of the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

The Festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot are identified as times of pilgrimage in the Bible, with Deuteronomy specifically associating them with pilgrimage to the “place that [God] will choose,” understood to be Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16). Priestly literature prescribes cultic offerings for each of these festivals along with the Day of Blasts (later called Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) (Leviticus 23; Numbers 28–29). The latest holiday mentioned in the Bible is Purim, which appears in the book of Esther and celebrates the (likely ahistorical) victory of the Jews of Persia over their enemies. Hanukkah, first mentioned in the books of Maccabees, celebrates the rededication of the altar in the Jerusalem Temple after its defilement by the forces of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167–160 BCE).

Festival Observance with and without the Temple

Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and participation in (or witnessing of) Temple rituals are central to most mentions and depictions of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot in Second Temple literature. Josephus notes that the gathering together in Jerusalem of so many Jews on these occasions could pose political problems for Hasmonean and Herodian kings and Roman overlords, since large crowds could always become unruly and rebellious. Rabbinic literature, for which the trauma of the Temple’s destruction in 70 CE looms large, both nostalgically preserves (and imaginatively retrojects) accounts of festival practice within the Temple compound and lays out prescriptions for how to observe these festivals in a world without the Temple.