Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits

The biblical year starts in spring with Passover which includes Unleavened Bread and First Fruits.

These three feasts commemorate the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. 

Because of their close proximity to each other they often come under one name eg ‘Passover,’ or ‘Unleavened Bread’.

NB The Passover sacrifice (lamb) occurs on the 14 day of this first month, however the Passover meal is eaten /celebrated that night which is the start of the feast of Unleavened Bread 

The third feast in this group’ First Fruits’ is always celebrated on the Sunday in that week of Unleavened Bread.

Shavuot / Feast of Weeks      

Shavuot is celebrated fifty days after the feast of First Fruits. 

It is also known as the Feast of Weeks because each day is counted (Deuteronomy 16.9) and each complete week is named “Omer” and numbered ie Omer1, Omer 2. 

Once all seven weeks have been counted the next day (the fiftieth) is Shavuot.  

Memorial of Trumpets

This feast is the first of the autumn or fall feasts. It is celebrated on the first day of the seventh month and marked by a memorial of blowing of trumpets.

Day of Atonement 

This feast on the tenth day of the seventh month is characterised by it’s solemnity and if it is not observed then a person is cut off from the community.

Feast of Tabernacles / Feast of Ingathering

This feast is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and has two aspects to its celebration. One is to remember how the people lived in booths or ‘tabernacles’ when God brought them out of Egypt. The other aspect is to celebrate of the final ingathering /harvest of fruit.