UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 75 



lamb had been killed ; sacrifices were offered 

 on each of the days ; no bread but such as was 

 unleavened was permitted to be eaten during 

 its continuance ; and the first and the last days 

 were observed with peculiar and impressive 

 ceremonies. The departure of the Israelites 

 from Egypt, and the wonderful acts of Divine 

 power by which their liberation had been accom- 

 plished, were the objects commemorated at this 

 great assemblage of the people ; but we have 

 so often conversed on the Passover, that I need 

 not renew that subject now. 



"The feast of Weeks," my uncle continued, 

 " was so called because it was kept at the end of 

 seven weeks, or a week of weeks, after the 

 Passover, that is, on the fiftieth day ; and 

 therefore it has been also called the feast of 

 Pentecost, from a Greek word signifying fiftieth. 

 It lasted seven days, and was held in remem- 

 brance of the law which was given to the people 

 at Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after their 

 leaving Egypt. At this feast two loaves of bread 

 and a certain quantity of meal, to represent the 

 first-fruits of the ground, were offered as a solemn 

 and grateful acknowledgment for the harvest 

 which in that fine climate and fertile country 

 had already commenced. The modern Jews 

 keep this festival with great strictness ; but they 

 mix various traditional rites with the ceremonies. 

 In this country, I understand that they decorate 



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