Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Lev 23:34-36; John 7:2) - one of the three great Jewish festivals (Deut 16:16). It began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tishri, corresponding to the latter half of September and first half of October. It lasted seven days and concluded with an eighth day called especially holy and great (John 7:37). The feast commemorated Israel's forty years of wandering through the Arabian wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. During it the people left their houses and lived in booths or tents made from green branches, rejoicing before the LORD (Lev 23:39-43).