A cycle of three harvest feasts--small world! :-)

[Guest guest]

> Shavuot, the Feast of the Weeks, is the Jewish holiday celebrating

> the harvest season in Israel. Shavuot, which means " weeks " is the

> second of the three major festivals (Passover being the first and

> Sukkot the third) and comes exactly fifty days after Passover.

> Shavuot is known also as Yom Habikkurim, or " the Day of the First

> Fruits " , because it is the time the farmers of Israel would bring

> their first harvest to Jerusalem as a token of thanksgiving.

 

It's interesting that you have a cycle of three harvest festivals. So do

 

we Pagans, based on a more European and American growing season.

We celebrate first fruits, i.e., veggies and green corn, at Lammas

(rhymes

with " bomb us " ) on July 31 or Aug. 1. We mark the grain and apple

harvest at Mabon (roughly rhymes with " gabbin' " ) at Autumn Equinox,

around September 21. (For those in the deep South, first harvest may

be celebrated at summer solstice [Litha] and second at Lammas.)

 

Then our high holy days come at Samhain (pronounced " sowin " to rhyme

with " plowin' " ), from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 or 2, peaking on Oct. 31. At

that

time, our ancestors celebrated the " harvesting " and preserving of meat

for

the winter, and by extension, they and we celebrate(d) it as the feast of

 

those we love who have departed the flesh in the past year, and

especially

all those in the world who have suffered or died under persecution, or

after

making an unusually fine contribution to the community. Pagans who

eat meat also honor the animals' sacrifice at this time.

 

We refer to these feasts, and the other five main feasts of the year,

as Sabbats. Whether there's a historical connection there is a matter of

much debate.

 

Rain

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[Guest guest]

Thanks for your information, Rain! Now it is my turn to be impressed!

I think, no matter which background is dominant, what makes all that

so fascinating is the ability of people to honour and respect nature

and being a part of it,its laws and its cycles.

 

Warm regards,

 

Gabriella

 

 

, raincrone@j...

wrote:

 

>

> It's interesting that you have a cycle of three harvest festivals.

So do

>

> we Pagans, based on a more European and American growing season.