Biblical Festivals

Festivals provide cultural anchors and milestones for people everywhere. They are compelling, and traditions surrounding them tend to pass from one generation to the next. The Lord knows this, so throughout biblical history He established festivals to anchor His people in gospel principles, and He has railed against festivals that lead His children astray.

The tendency of man from the beginning has been to attach festival celebrations to agricultural cycles and seasons. Thus, the traditional time of the celebration of Christmas has been erroneously scheduled to coincide with winter solstice, when the dead of winter is over and days begin to lengthen. Harvest, when crops have been gathered in, and people know there will be no starvation that winter, is a time for celebration in every culture. The onset of spring, when the earth is reborn, is a natural time to celebrate. Festivals logically celebrate the bounteous offerings of the earth (hence, water libations and wine fests), as well as fertility, both of the earth and the people who inhabit it.

Festival celebrations naturally attract accouterments over time—special foods, costumes, decorations, songs, music, and ritual behaviors. Mostly, these accouterments reinforce the symbolism of the holidays, such as the Easter egg, a symbol of rebirth. These extras that multiply as festivals are observed can sometimes obscure the original messages of the feasts, but they also offer so much attraction, that they can ensure loyal observance, too.

The Exodus

The Israelite exodus from Egypt was a 40-year walk through the Plan of Salvation—the Children of Israel were born from the womb of Egypt, through water (baptism), into a wilderness of testing, to inherit a promised land (eternal life). During this lengthy training period, the Lord, Jehovah, ordained seven holy convocations, or festivals, with the temple at the center of the festival rituals. These festivals were full of imagery and types that predicted the nature of the coming messiah, and indeed, laid out a map of religious history and futurity.

Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him (2 Nephi 11:4).

Passover

The first of the seven festivals ordained by Jehovah through Moses was the Passover, in Hebrew–Pesach. The ritual was observed the night before the escape into the wilderness, and it is rich with imagery testifying of Christ as the redeemer and eternal sacrifice—the Lamb of God.

Passover was celebrated on the 14th of the Jewish month called Nisan, or Aviv. It was the first full moon after the spring equinox. Until then, the beginning of the year was celebrated in the fall, after final harvest, but the Lord moved it to the Passover. (Now, the religious year begins on this day, and the civil new year is still celebrated in the fall.) He required the faithful to take a perfect male lamb into their households on the tenth of Nisan. This gave the families four days to become completely attached to the darling animals before sacrificing them. The lamb typified Christ—it was to be sacrificed and prepared with no bones broken, and the sacrifice was to be completed between 3 and 5 in the afternoon—the time of Christ's crucifixion. The blood of the lamb was applied to the lintel of the doorway, typifying the saving blood of Christ, and that families can be saved together.

Christ was born (according to the Prophet Joseph Smith) in early April, Passover, like a lamb, in a stable. His atoning sacrifice occured on Passover, as well. Passover is a feast commemmorating deliverance, and Christ is the deliverer.