OR

-TISRI.

The First Civil Month: Seventh Sacred Ditto. 30 Days-September. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

1. Feast of Trumpets, Lev. xxiii. 34. Numb. xxix. 1, 2.

3. Fast for Gedaliah's death, 2 Kings xxv. 25. Jer. xli. 2. Also the abolition of the use of written contracts.

5. Fast for the sentence against the maker of the golden calf, Ex. xxxii. 6, 7, 8, 34. Lessons, Deut. xxvi. 1-xxix.; and Isa. Ix. 10. Day of Atonement, or Fast of Ashura, Lev. xvi. 29-31; xxxiii. 27-32.

Lessons, Lev. xvi. Numb. xxix. 7-11. Isa. lvii. 14, to end.

15. Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering. First fruits of wine and oil offered, Lev. xxiii. 34-43.

21. Hosanna Rabba, the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Lessons, Gen. i. 1.-vi. 9. Isa. xlii. 5.-xliii. 11.

23. Rejoicing for the delivery of the Law; and the dedication of Solomon's Temple, 1 Kings viii. 65, 66.

30. The New Moon.

Each Month has two days for the celebration of the New Moon; the first and the last day.

Weather, Productions, &c.

During this month the days are very hot, and the nights extremely cold. The rainy season commences towards the end of the month. The mercury remains the same in the beginning of this month as it was at the latter end of the preceding one; except that it rises higher in the afternoon. In rainy weather it falls 3 or 4 deg., till it gets down to 65 deg.; but the variation of one day does not exceed 3 or 4 deg.; and when it rains, 1 or 2 deg. Lightnings are very frequent in the nighttime; and if seen in the western hemisphere, they portend rain, often accompanied with thunder. The winds blow chiefly from the

west.

Towards the end of the month ploughing Rel. Mag.-No. 5.

19. Fast on Monday and Tuesday, and the Monday following, to expiate faults committed on occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles.

23. Feast in Memorial of the stones of the altar, profaned by the Greeks; which were laid aside, in expectation of a prophet, who could declare to what use they might be applied. 1 Mac. iv. 46.

25.

Lessons, Gen. xxviii. 10-xxxii. 3. Hos. xi. 7.-xiv. 3.

Feast in memory of the recovery of some places from the Cuthites, on the return from Babylon.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The rainy season now commences; the extreme heat is abated (although still great in the day-time), the air being much refreshed by cold in the night, by which the dew is frozen. The rains which now fall, called the early or former rains, are sometimes accompanied with thunder. The winds are seldom very strong, but variable.

The mercury in the morning stands, for the most part, before the rainy days, at 72 deg. It does not rise, in the afternoon, above 5 or 6 deg. After the rains, it descends gradually to 60 deg. The variation of one day, seldom, on rainy days never, exceeds 3 or 4 deg.

About the middle of this month wheat and barley are sown, as also during the two following months. White-blossoming chick-pea, lentils, purple flowering garden spurge, small smooth-podded vetches, sesannum, greenrinded melons, anguria (gourds), cucumbers, fennel, garden fenu-greek, and bastard saffron, are likewise sown. The pistachio, a tree peculiar to Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, yields its fruit. The charnubi still presents its pods; 3 C

Lessons, Exod. i-v. Isa. xxvii. 6-14, or
Jer. i. 1-ii. 4.

Feast in memory of the exclusion of the
Sadducees from the Sanhedrim, in whose
place the Pharisees were introduced.
Weather, Productions, &c.

This is the first winter month: the cold is piercing, and sometimes fatal to those not in

Lessons, Gen. xxxvii. 1.—li. 1.—Amos ii. 6. -iii. 9.

7. Feast in memory of the death of Herod the Great, son of Antipater.

21. Feast of Mount Gerizim. This feast was

instituted in memory of the triumph of the Jews over the Samaritans, when the Temple at Jerusalem was visited by Alexander the Great.

25. The renewing and dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, after its profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Mac. iv. 52. 2 Mac. ii. 16. John x. 22. In the time of Josephus this was called The Feast of Lights. Ant. 1. xii. c. 11. Lessons, Gen. xliv. 18-xlvii. 27. Ezek. xxxvii. 15, to the end.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The rains, if not already fallen, certainly fall this month. The heat, although not so great in the day-time, is still violent; but the nights are very cold. The rivers and lakes are, at this period, for the most part, dried up. The winds are chiefly from the north; but seldom blow with force. The mercury, as the month advances, gradually falls from 60 to 50 deg. The variation of one day is not more than from 2 to 5 deg.

This is the time for the general sowing of corn. The trees retain their leaves till the middle of the month. Dates are gathered. The napleia, or anoplia, yields its delicious fruit; in shape, resembling the crab-apples, and containing a nut as large as olives. At Aleppo, the vintage lasts to the 15th of the month.

-TEBETH.

The Fourth Civil Month: Tenth Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-December.

Feasts, Fasts, &c.

8. Fast on account of the translation of the Law out of Hebrew into Greek. Philo states (Vit. Mos.) that the Jews of Alexandria celebrate a feast on this day in commemoration of the event. But the Jews at present abominate the version. 9. Fast. for which no reason is assigned. 10. Fast in memory of the Siege of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxv. 1.

than snow, which, when it falls, seldom remains all the day on the ground, even in the midst of winter. The winds blow from the east or the north; but are seldom violent. When the east winds blow, the weather is dry, though they sometimes bring mist and hoar-frost, and are accompanied with storms. When the sun shines, and there is a calm, the atmosphere is hot. The mercury usually stands at 46 deg.: it frequently gets up 3 deg. in the afternoon, if there be no rain.

Pulse and corn are sown. Sugar-canes ripen, and are cut down at Cyprus.

The grass and herbs springing up after the rains, the Arabs drive their flocks from the mountains into the plains.

22.

23.

29.

hence they begin to count the four years, during which trees were judged unclean from the time of their being planted, Lev. xix. 23-25. Some place the beginning of these four years on the first of the

month.

Feast in memory of one called Niskalenus, who had ordered the placing of images or figures in the Temple, which was forbidden by the law; but he died, and his orders were not executed. The Jews place this under the high priest, Simon the Just. It is not known who this Niskalenus was. Fast for the war of the ten tribes against that of Benjamin, Judg. xx. They also call to remembrance the idol of Micah, Judg. xviii.

Memorial of the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Mac. vi. 1.

Lessons, Exod. xxvii. 20-xxx. 11. Ezek. xliii. 10, to the end of the chapter.

Weather, Productions, &c.

This may be called the second winter month. On the elevated parts of Palestine the cold is intense during the early part of the month. There is generally a considerable fall of snow, which is dissolved in a few hours. In the plain of Jericho the cold is scarcely felt. The western winds, which generally blow during winter, bring heavy rains, especially during the night: these swell the rivers, lakes, and pools, which are dried up during the summer. In the morning the mercury is generally between 40 and 46 deg., and does not rise above 3 or 4 deg. in

the afternoon. On rainy or cloudy days, it seldom exceeds 1 or 2 deg. of rise, and frequently remains the same during the whole day. Towards the latter end of the month, when the sky is clear, it is so hot that travellers with difficulty prosecute their journey. The winds blow gently, and chiefly from the north or east. All kinds of corn are sown this month. Beans blossom, and the trees are again in leaf. The almond tree blossoms earliest, and even before it is in leaf. If the winter be mild, the winter fig, which is generally gathered the beginning of spring, is still found on the trees, though stripped of their branches. Misletoe, and the cotton tree, flourish. Among the garden herbs and flowers of this month, are, cauliflower, hyacinth, violet, gold-streaked daffodil, tulip, wormwood, lentise-tree, anemonies, ranunculuses, and colchicas, a genus of lilies.

778-ADAR.

The Sixth Civil Month: Twelfth Sacred Ditto.
29 Days-February.
Feasts, Fasts, &c.

7. Fast because of the death of Moses, Deut.
xxxiv 5.

8, 9. The trumpet sounded by way of thanks-
giving for the rain that fell in this month,
and to pray for it in future.

12. Feast in memory of the death of two pro-
selytes, Hollianus and Pipus, his brother,
whom one Tyrianus or Tyrinus would have
compelled to break the law, in the city of
Laodicea.

Lessons, Exod. xxxv. 1-xxxviii. 21. 1 Sam. xvii. 13-26.

13. Esther's feast; probably in memory of Esth. iv. 16.-Feast in memory of the death of Nicanor, 1' Mac. vii. 44. 2 Mac. xv. 30.

14. The first Purim, or Lesser Feast of Lots, Esth. ix. 21.

15. The great Feast of Purim, or Lots, the second Purim.

17. Deliverance of the Sages of Israel. 20. Feast in memory of the rain obtained by

one called Onias Hammagel, during a great drought in the time of Alexander Jannæus.

23. Dedication of the temple of Zerubbabel,

(Ezra vi. 16.) The day is not known. 25. Commemoration of Jehoiachim, king of

Judah, advanced by Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, above the other kings at his

court.

Lessons, Lev. i-v. Isa. xliii. 21-xliv. 24. 28. Feast in commemoration of the repeal of

the decree, by which the kings of Greece had forbidden the Jews to circumcise their children, to observe the Sabbath, and to decline foreign worship.

Here is intercalated the second month of Adar, or

Ve-adar.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The weather as last month, except that towards the latter end, at least in the more southern parts, the snows and winter colds are observed to cease. Chiefly remarkable for rains: these, however, do not continue many days together: but the weather varies about

¡O-NISAN.

over.

29.

29. Supplication for the rain of the Spring

Weather, Productions, &c.

This month is the forerunner of spring. The cold seldom continues till this time, except on ern parts of the country; but rains, accompathe summits of mountains, and the more northnied with thunder and hail, are not yet over. The weather is generally warm and temperate; sometimes extremely hot, especially in the plain of Jericho. The western winds often blow with great force, and the sky is cloudy and obscured. In the middle of the month, the ercury stands at 52 deg.; towards the end, between 56 and 58 deg. In the beginning of the month, it does not rise in the afternoon, above 5 deg, towards the end, 8 or 9 deg.; in rainy weather, there is scarcely any variation during the whole day. Towards the end of the month the rivers are much swollen by the rain, a

by the thawing of the snow on the tops of the mountains. Earthquakes are sometimes felt at this time.

Rice, Indian wheat, and corn of Damascus, are sown in Lower Egypt. Beans, chick-peas, lentils, kidney-beans, and gervansos, are gathered. Every tree is in full leaf. The fig, palm, apple, and pear trees blossom. The former frequently while the winter fig is on the tree. The Jericho plum-tree presents its fruit. The vine, which has a triple produce, having yielded its first clusters, is pruned of the barren wood. Yellow polly, thyme, sage, rosemary, artichoke, fennel, sand-thistle, anemonies, tulips, &c. flourish.

-IJAR.

The Eighth Civil Month: Second Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-April.

Feasts, Fasts, &c.

1. Fast of three days for excesses committed during the Feast of the Passover.

7. Dedication of the Temple, when the Asmonæans consecrated it anew, after the persecutions of the Greeks.

10. Fast for the death of the High-Priest Eli, and for the capture of the Ark, by the Philistines, 1 Sam. iv. 5.

14. SECOND PASSOVER, in favour of those who could not celebrate the first.

23. Feast for the taking of the city of Gaza, by Simon Maccabeus, 1 Mac. xiii. 43, 44. Or, for the taking and purification of the citadel of Jerusalem, by the Maccabees, 1 Mac. xiii. 49, 53; xvi. 7. 36. Also, a feast for the expulsion of the Caraites out of Jerusalem, by the Asmonæans or Maccabees.

27. Feast for the expulsion, by the Maccabees, of the Galileans, or those who attempted to set up crowns over the gates of their temples and houses; and even on the heads of oxen and asses; and to sing hymns in honour of false gods.

28. Fast for the death of the prophet Samuel, 1 Sam. xxv. 1.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The latter rains now fall; but cease about the end of the month. The sun's heat is excessive in the plain of Jericho, the small streams in which are dried up. But in other parts of Palestine, the Spring is now delightful. Heavy dews sometimes fall in the night. The mercury rises gradually, as the month advances, from 60 to 66 deg.; in the afternoon, it does not rise, when the sky is clear, above 8 or 10 deg. The sky is always without clouds except those small bright ones that rise in the afternoon. Never is the sky observed to be cloudy or obscured, except when there is rain, which is accompanied with thunder, much seldomer than in the last month. A hoar frost is seen for several days together, the beginning of the month; especially when the winds blow from the north or east. The air grows very hot, but the mornings and evenings are cooler. The snows on the summits of Libanus, and other mountains, begin to thaw.

The harvest depends upon the duration of the rainy season. After the rains cease, the

corn soon arrives at maturity. Wheat, zea or spelt, and barley, ripen. The spring fig is still hard. The almond and the orange trees produce fruit. The turpentine tree and the charnubi blossom. A new shoot bearing fruit, springs from the branch of the vine that was left in the preceding month, which must also be lopped. Sugar canes are planted at Cyprus. Asphodel, ranunculuses, anemonies, lysimachias, yellow-leaved hyslope, dragon's wort, hermolanuses, phalangias, and tulips, are still in

flower.

Grass being very high, the Arabs lead out their horses to pasture.

27. Fast because Rabbi Chanina was burnt, with the book of the Law.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The Summer season commences: the excessive heat of the sun renders the earth barren. Rain has been observed even in the first part of this month. Egmont found the air of the town of Safet most pure and salubrious, while the heat was insupportable in the parts adjacent. The sky is generally serene and fair, except that small bright clouds sometimes rise. The winds blow generally from the west. At the beginning of the month, the mercury reaches 70 deg.; then it rises gradually from 76 to 80 deg. In the afternoon, it does not rise above 6 or 9 deg. The air becomes hotter in proportion as the western winds abate, especially if they are calm for several days together: but even then the violence of the heat is not so great as when the wind blows from the north or east. When the heat is very great, there is frequently observed a dry mist which obscures the sun. The snows on Libanus thaw rapidly, but the cold is still sharp on its

summit.

Harvest continues. Wheat, barley, rice, and rye, are cut down. The early apples are gathered. Hasselquist and Pococke state that cotton is sown this month; but Mariti and Korte affirm, that the cotton-tree bears the winter in Syria, and now puts forth a yellow blossom. Mandrakes yield ripe fruit. Sage, rue, garden purslain, the yellow cucumber and the white, now flourish. They continue, after

harvest, to sow various garden herbs: many of the vegetables come to maturity twice in the same year, in spring and in autumn. The grass and herbs reach their greatest height at this time.

THAMMUZ.

The Tenth Civil Month: Fourth Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-June. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

14. Feast for the abolition of a pernicious book of the Sadducees and Bethusians, by which they endeavoured to subvert the oral laws, and all the traditions.

18. Fast in memory of the tables of the Law, broken by Moses, Exod. xxxii. 19. On this day the city of Jerusalem was taken. The perpetual morning and evening sacrifice was suspended, during the siege by Titus. Epistemon tore the book of the Law, and set up an idol in the Temple. It is not said whether this happened under Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Romans.

Weather, Productions, &c.

During this month the sky is generally clear, and the weather extremely hot. As the month advances, the mercury gradually rises in the morning, from 76 to 80 deg; in the afternoon, it stands between 84 and 92 deg. The winds, generally blowing from the west, refresh the air in the afternoon: and, by blowing sometimes during the night, they assuage the heats, which are now excessive. The inhabitants pass their nights in summer upon the roofs of their houses, which are not rendered damp by any dew. The snow, however, is still frozen on Libanus, in some parts of which it is so cold, as to compel travellers to put on their winter garments.

Rice, early figs and apples, plums, cherries, and mulberries, ripen. The cedar gum distils spontaneously, and the bacciferous cedar yields berries. The palm-tree produces opobalsamum, or balm of gilead, during this and the two following months. The melon is gathered, and rosemary flourishes.

The Arabs, as the summer advances, lead their flocks to the hills and mountains situated more to the north.

.JX-AB.

The Eleventh Civil Month; Fifth Sacred Ditto. 30 Days-July. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

1. Fast for the death of Aaron. 5. Commemoration of the children of Jethuel, of the race of Judah, who, after the return from the Captivity, furnished wood to the Temple. 9. Fast of the Fifth Month, in memory of God's declaration to Moses on this day, that none of the murmuring Israelites should enter the Land of Promise, Numb. xiv. 29, 31. On the same day, the Temple was taken and burnt: Solomon's Temple, first, by the Chaldeans; Herod's Temple, afterwards, by the Romans.

18. Fast, because, in the time of Ahaz, the evening lamp went out.

21. Hylophoria; a Feast, on which they stored up the necessary wood in the Temple. Scaliger places this festival on the 22d of the next month.

21. Feast in memory of the abolition of a law by the Asmonæans, or Maccabees, which had been introduced by the Sadducees, enacting, that both sons and daughters should alike inherit the estates of their parents.

Weather, Productions, &c.

Heat more intense. There is no rain. Libanus is free from snow, except where the sun cannot penetrate. The snows on the tops of the mountains thawing gradually during the summer, Libanus yields a perpetual supply of water to the brooks and fountains in the countries below. The mercury usually stands in the beginning of the month at 80 deg.; towards the end, 85 or 86 deg. It does not rise in the afternoon above 8 or 10 deg The winds generally blow from the west; but when they fail, the heat is excessive. Dates, apples, pears, nectarines, peaches, grapes, and the gourd, called citrul, ripen. Cauliflower and waterparsnip, are sown. There is no longer a sufficient supply of pasturage for the cattle.

.ELUL-אלול.

The Twelfth Civil Month; Fifth Sacred Ditto 29 Days-August. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

7. Dedication of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, Ezra xii. 27.

17.

22.

29.

Fast for the death of the Spies, who brought an ill report of the Land of Promise, Numb. xiv. 36. Also, a Feast in remembrance of the expulsion of the Greeks, who would have prevented the Israelites from marrying, and who dishonoured the daughters of Israel. When they intended to use violence towards Judith, the only daughter of Matthias, he, with the assistance of his sons, overcame them, and delivered his country from their yoke.

Feast in memory of the punishment of some wicked Israelites, whose insolence could not be restrained otherwise than by death.

On this day the Jews reckoned up the beasts that had been born, the tenth part of which belonged to God.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The sky is serene and fair, and the heat extreme. The weather is entirely the same during the first twenty days, as in the preceding months afterwards white clouds, commonly called niliaca, larger than those which are ge nerally observed in summer, rise, for the most part, till the end of the month. Mr. Burckhardt, who was at Shobak, a village a few miles north of Mount Seir, in Arabia Petrea, on the 20th of this month, states, that in the afternoon, there was a shower of rain, with so violent a gust of wind, that all the tents were thrown down at the same moment. The mercury, until those days when the clouds rise, conti