Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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TABERNACLES, FEAST OF

One of the three great feasts of ancient Israel, still commemorated by the Jews. It recalls the custom of erecting booths of branches and foliage, where all who could were to live during the fest, beginning on the fifteenth day of the month of Tishri (approximately September) and lasting seven days. Its original purpose was to thank the Lord for the harvest, but in time it became a solemn commemoration of the long sojourn in the desert, of finding a home in the Promised Land, and of building the Temple as a permanent place of worship of the one true God.