TABERNACLES, FEAST OF. — One of the three annual feasts of Israel, together with Passover and Pentecost, at which “every male” was to “appear before the Lord God” (Ex. 23:17) in Jerusalem (pilgrimage feast).
The “feast of booths” (Heb. ḥagh has-sukkōth; Lev. 23:34) was also called simply “the feast” (Ex. 45:25), on account of its popularity and gaiety, and was considered the most “holy” (Philo, De septenario, 10). It was celebrated exactly six months after Passover, from the 15th to the 21st of Tishri, to which the 22nd of Tishri was added as a day of
(courtesy of Msgr. S. Mattei)
TABERNACOLO — Wall tabernacle (14th century) with two censing angels — Comelico, parish church of S. Niccolò (Cadore).
closing of the cycle of the annual feasts: on the 15th and 22nd abstention from servile labor was prescribed, as on the Sabbath (Lev. 23, 35-36). The report of the transfer of this feast in the Northern Kingdom to the following month, found in I Reg. 12, 32-33, is perhaps due to a gloss.
The f. of the T. basically had the character of thanksgiving to God at the end of the grape harvest and, in general, of the produce of the countryside, hence the name “feast of the harvest” (Ex. 23, 16), and thus a feast marking the close of the agricultural year (cf. “at the end of the year,” ibid. 23, 16). The interpretation that regards it as originally a New Year feast, corresponding to a Canaanite custom (unproven and improbable) of beginning the year at the “autumn feast,” is unfounded. The season in which it took place explains the exceptional abundance of the offerings made there, especially the rich animal sacrifices (Num. 29, 12-38), amid the rejoicing of the people, who took part in the rites with branches in their hands, to be waved according to particular rules at the important moments of the ceremony (Lev. 23, 40: from an interpretation of this text arose the custom of holding in the left hand a citron branch with its fruit [postbiblical Heb. 'ethrōgh], and in the right a small bunch of palm and myrtle branches, called lālābh, or, according to G. Dalman, lōlābh). In addition, the feast had a commemorative character with reference to Israelite origins: it was to recall the time of the wandering in the desert, when Israel dwelt under tents. Hence its distinctive feature: during the eight days of the solemnity people lived in huts, which were built outdoors with branches of trees (the relevant prescription appears only in Neh. 8, 15). This feature is referred to by the name “scenopegy” (σκηνοπηγία) given to the feast in the Hellenistic period (I Mach. 10, 21; Io. 7, 2).
Jewish customs relating to the feast are described in a special treatise of the Miṣṇāḥ (II, 6: Sukkā'). Among other things, it speaks of a solemn libation, perhaps alluding to the miracle of the desert rock (Ex. 17, 1-7), for which there are only probable indications in the Old Testament (I Sam. 7, 6 etc.): during the ceremony the text of Isaiah concerning the “wells of salvation” was sung (Is. 12, 3). Christ’s words uttered “on the last day of the scenopegy” allude to this rite: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (Io. 7, 37).