14 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Israelites through the desert, where they dwelt in booths or tents. 

 (Le\4ticus xxiii, 43.) In ancient times the feast was coincident with 

 the harvest season and was a feast of thanksgiving. (Leviticus xxiii, 

 39; Exodus xxxiv, 22.) It was one of the most important and joyous- 

 of the three pilgrimage festivals. The most characteristic feature of 

 the celebration of this feast is the dwelling in booths or tents, whence 

 is derived its Hebrew name, Suklcoth, or, more fully, Tiag Jia-svlcTcoth, 

 the feast of booths. The booth has three sides of wood, usually boards 

 or planks, while the fourth side, on which is the entrance, is hung with 

 a curtain. It must be erected in the open air and covered with green 

 branches and leaves, affording protection against the sun by day, but 

 permitting a small portion of the sky to be seen and the stars to show 

 at night. Inside it is usually adorned with draperies and garlands. 

 Being the "dwelling place" (Leviticus xxiii, 42), during the festival, 

 the meals are taken in the booth, and especially pious people even 

 sleep in it. Sick and feeble people, however, are exempt from the 

 obhgation of "dwelling in tents," and the precept is generally sus- 

 pended in inclement weather. 



Another of the important ceremonies connected with the observ- 

 ance of the Feast of Tabernacles is the use of palm branches (lulah), 

 bound up with myrtle and willow branches, and a kind of citron 

 (etJirog). 



36. Fourteen tablets used for tJie decoration of the booth. — (Cat. Nos. 

 217679-685, U.S.N.M.) 



37. Lulal) and ethrog. — The lulab and ethrog, the former being the 

 shoot of the palm bound up w^ith myrtle and ^\dllow branches, the lat- 

 ter the fruit of the citron tree (a variety of the Citrus medica), are used 

 by the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles (15-22 of Tishri = September- 

 October), in pursuance of Leviticus xxiii, 40 : "And ye shall take unto 

 you, on the first day, the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, 

 and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice 

 before the Lord, your God, seven days. " At certain stages of the lit- 

 urgy the lulab and ethrog, the former being held in the right hand, the 

 latter in the left, are waved up and down and to all points of the com- 

 pass, in acknowledgment of God's sovereignty over nature. After 

 the additional service {musaf), each day a processional circuit {haJc- 

 leaf all), is made with the lulab and ethrog around the reading desk 

 (as was done in the temple around the altar), on which the Torah scroll 

 is held in an upright position, while reciting the prayers, beginning and 

 closing with the invocation "Hosanna." On the seventh day seven 

 such processions take place, and willow branches are beaten on the 

 benches, and this day is therefore called Hoshanna Rabba, the day of 

 the great Eosanna. Philadelphia, Pa. (Cat. No. 154448, U.S.N.M.) 

 Gift of David Sulzberger. 



