JEWISH FESTIVAL
“Feast of Weeks”
CELEBRATION TO-DAY
To-day is the Jewish festival of the weeks known as “Shabuot.” It marks the end of a period of seven weeks called “Swira,” computed from the offering of the barley sheaf during the Passover feast. In Palestine, the corn harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness. It began with the harvesting of the barley during the Passover, and ended with the harvesting of wheat at Pentecost, wheat being the last cereal to ripen. Pentecost was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest. In the Old Testament the feast of the weeks is called the feast of the harvest. These seven weeks are weeks of mourning and self-denial in remembrance of the hardships and sufferings of the Chosen people when driven from the Holy land It has many features in common with the Christian period of Lent. During this time no weddings are celebrated. Today, the end of the period, is a day of feasting and rejoicing.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 201, 22 May 1931, Page 10
Word Count
167JEWISH FESTIVAL Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 201, 22 May 1931, Page 10
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