Pilgrimage, Book 2 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
Of the Feasts and Fasts, which the Iewes instituted to themselues: with a Kalendar of their feasts and fasts through the yeare as they are now obserued.
THE Prophet Zacharie, in his 7. and 8. Chapters mentioneth certaine fasting dayes which the Iewes by Ecclesiasticall Iniunction obserued. One in the tenth day of the tenth monethmonth, because that on that day Ierusalem began to be besieged. 2. Reg. 24. A second fast was obserued on the ninth day of the fourth monethmonth, in remembrance that then the Chaldeans entred the Citie.
A third fast they held on the ninth day of the fift monethmonth in respect of the Citie and Temple burned on that day, First by Nabuchodonosor: Secondly by Titus, on the same day: which the Iewes doe yet obserue with strict penance, going barefoote and sitting on the ground, reading some sad historie of the Bible, and the Lamentations of Ieremie, three times ouer.
Their fourth fast they celebrated on the third day of the seuenth monethmonth, in remembrance of Godoliah slaine by Ismael, Ier.41.42. 2.Reg.vlt. To these are reckoned the fast of Ester, in the thirteenth day of Adar, their twelfth monethmonth; and on the seuenteenth day of the fourth monethmonth, in the remembrance of the Tables of the Lawe broken by Moses: the institution whereof seemeth to bee late, seeing the scripture doth not mention it. In this monethmonth the Aegyptians kept the feast or fast of their Ofiris, lamenting for him, which seemeth to be the same that is mentioned. Ezech. 8 Where women are said to mourne for Tamuz, whom Plutarch calleth Amuz, and from thence deriueth Iupiters title of Ammon. Of him was this fourth monethmonth called Tamuz.
On the aEster.9.21.fourteenth and fifteenth dayes of Adar, they kept the feast of Phurim, or lots instituted in remembrance of that deliuerance from Haman; by the authoritie of Ioachim the high Priest, as Funccius relateth out of Philo. Anno M. 3463. *Caluis.3477.Antonius Margarita a christned Iew, reporteth that on these dayes the Iewes read the historie of Ester, and so often as Haman is mentioned, they smite on their seates with their fistes and hammers, otherwise spending the time of this feast in Bacchanall riots and excesse.
They had the feast also of wood-carrying called foreign mentioned by bIoseph.de bells Iud.l.2.c.17.Iosephus, in which the custome was for eueryevery one to carry wood to the Temple to maintaine the fire of the Altar.
The Feast of Dedication, otherwise called the Feast of Lights, and the institution thereof is largely described. Mac.4. in remembrance of the restitution of diuine worship and sacrifice in the Temple, which had been by Antiochus polluted, and sacred to Iupiter Olympius, all the seruices appointed by the law being abolished. By Iudas Macabeus, the Temple and Altar, and other holy instruments, were dedicated the same day three yeares after their first pollution, called therfore the Feast of Lights, as I thinke saith cIos.Ant.12.c.2.Iosephus, because so vnexpected a light shone forth vntounto them. But Franciscus Iunius, in his Annotations vponupon the Syrian translation of the tenth of Iohn, where this Feast is mentioned, alledgeth out of the Talmud an other cause as followeth. When on the 25 day of Cislen they entered into the Temple, they found not pure oyle, except in one little vessell, which contained sufficient for the lampes but one day, of vvhichwhich oyle they lighted the lampes in order, which lasted eight daies, till they prested out of the Oliues cleane Oyle. And therefore the Wise-men of that time decreed, that yearely those eight dayes beginning at the 25. of Cisten should be dayes of ioy, and that eueryevery one in the doores of their houses eueryevery euening during those eight daies should light lampes, for declaration of that miracle, wherein they must not fast nor lament.
Likewise I.Mac.13.is ordained festiuall the 23. day of Iar, for the expiation of the Tower of Ierusalem by Simon Mac.
Sigonius reckoneth also the feast of Iephta, in the end of the yeare, which yet is not like to hauehave continued in succeeding ages: and of the fire that wee hauehave mentioned in 2.Mac.1. and the Feast of Iudith, for killing Holofernes: and on the fourteenth day of Adar, for the victory against Nicanor, Ios.l. 12. Their later feasts I shall mention, and declare their seuerall ceremonies, when wee come to speake of their later times, and of the present Iewish superstition. In the meane time I thinke it not amisse to set downe here out of Scaliger, a view or Kalendar of their monethes, with the feasts and fasts, as they are obserued therein at this day.Ios.Scal.Can.Isag.l.1.c.6.
TISRI habet dies 30
Tisri Plenus. 1. Clangor Tubae 3. Ieiuntum Godoliae qui cum Iudoe's occidebatur in Mazpa. Ier. 41. 5. Ieiunium. Moriuntur 20. Israelitae. Rabbi Akiba filius Ioseph conijcitur in vincula vbi moritur. 7. Ieiunium. Decretum contra Patres nostros, vt persrent gladio, fame, ac peste, propter vitulum fabricatum. 10. Ieiunium Kippurim. 15. Scenopegia. 21. foreign 22. Octaua Scenopegias. 23. Festiuitas Legis.
Marches. 29.
Marches. Cavus. 7. Ieiunium: Excaecarunt oculos Sedekiae &c. post. 29. Intercalatur dies vna in Anno pleno.
Casleu. 30.
Casleu plenus. 25. Encoenia. 28. Ieiunium: Ioiakim combussit volumen quod scripser at Baruch dictante Ieremia. 30. Eximitur dies in Anno defectiuo.
Tebeth.29.
Tebeth Cavus. 8. Ieiunium. Scripta est lex Graece diebus Ptolemaei Regis. Tenebrae triduo per vniuersum orbem. 9. Ieiunium. Non scripserunt Magistri nostri quare ea dies notata. 10. Ieiunium. Obsidetur Ierusalem à rege Babylonis.
Sebat.30.
Sebat plenus. 5. Ieiunium: Moriuntur Seniores qui fuerunt aequales Iosue filij Nun. 23. Ieiunium. Congregati sunt omnes Israelitae, contra Beniaminem propter pellicem & idolum Micha. 30. Locus Embolismi.
Adar.29.
Adar Cavus. 7. Ieiunium. Moritur Moses Magister noster qui in pace quiescit. 9. Ieiunium: Schola Sammai & schola Hillel inter se contendere coeperunt. 13. Festiuitas decreta: interficitur Nicanor. 14. Maidochaeus Phurim.
Nisan 30.
Nisan plenus 1. Ieiunium. Mortui sunt filij Aaron. 10. Ieiunium. Moritur Mariam. Eligitur agnus mactandus 14. die. 14. PASCHA. Exterminatio Fermenti. 15. Azyma. 16. foreign Manipulus frugum, foreign 21. Solemnitas finis Azymorū. 23. foreign 26. Ieiunium. Moritur Iosue filius Nun. 30. foreign
Iiar.29
Iiar cavus 7. foreign 10. Ieiunium. Moritur Eli Pont. Max. & ambo silij eius: capitur arca testimonij. 14. foreign 21. foreign 23. Solemnitas. Simon Gozans capit. 28. foreign Ieiunium: Moritur Samuel Propheta. plangitur abomnt populo.
Sivvan.30
Sivvan plenus 6. foreign 23. Ieiunium. Desistunt ferre primogenita & primitias Ierosolymae in diebus Ieroboam filij Nabat. 25. Ieiunium. Occiditur Rabban Simeon filius Gamaliel, Rabbi Ismael, R. Hanania secundus a pontificib. 27. Ieiunium. Conbustus est Rabbi Hanina filius Tardic…vnà cum libro legis.
Tamuz.29.
Tamuz Cavus 17. Ieiunium. Franguntur Tabulae legis. Cessat foreign. vrbs fissa. Epistemon cremat librum legis. Ponit statuam in temple.
Ab. 30.
Ab plenus. 1. Ieiunium. Moritur Aharon Pontifex. 9. Ieiunium. Decretum contra patres nostros ne ingrederentur in terram Iudaeam. Desolatio Templi prioris & posterioris. 18. Ieiunium. Extincta est Lucerna vespertina in diebus Ahaz.
Elul. 29.
Elul cavus. 17. Ieiunium. Moriuntur Exploratores qui diffamaverant terram. 22. Xylophoria.
As for the Sabbaoths. New-moones, and dayes not solomnized with feasting or fasting, I hauehave passed ouer in this Kalendar, as impertinent, or needelesse.