Calendar

Leviticus 23

vs.1,2 And YHVH  spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisraʼĕl, and say to them, ‘The appointed times of YHVH, which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings, My appointed times, are these:
 
(1) (Weekly Sabbath) vs. 3 ‘Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a set-apart gathering. You do no work, it is a Sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings.
 
(2) (Passover in English; Pasach in Hebrew, actual length an hour or so) vs. 5 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the Passover to YHVH.
 
(3) (Unleavened Bread, commonly mistaken for Passover, but it is a different festival) vs. 6 ‘And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to YHVH – seven days you eat unleavened bread.  ‘On the first day you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.  On the seventh day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.ʼ

(4) (First Fruits in English; Ha Bikkurim in Hebrew; always lands on the first day of the week) vs. 10b, 14b then you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest.  On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it.  - a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

(5) (Common name, Counting of the Omer [omer is an ancient unit of measure, not originally from Israel]; Shavuot in Hebrew; Pentecost in Greek; also always lands on the first day of the week) vs. 15, 16, 21 ‘And from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count for yourselves: seven completed Sabbaths. ‘Until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath you count fifty days, ‘And on this same day you shall proclaim a set-apart gathering for yourselves, you do no servile work on it – a law forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.  

 (6) (Yom Teruah in Hebrew: yom means ‘day’, teruah means ‘noise’. The word for ‘trumpets’ is not in the verse in the original Hebrew, see yom teruah zikrone handout for more details) vs. 24-25 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, ye have a sabbath, a memorial of shouting, a holy convocation;  ye do no servile work, and ye have brought near a fire-offering to YHVH.' (Young’s Literal Version)

(7) (Yom Kippur in Hebrew: yom means ‘day’, kippur means ‘atonement’) vs. 27a, 31,32b “On the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a set-apart gathering for you. And you shall afflict your beings, “You do no work – a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you observe your Sabbath.”

(8) (Feast of Booths in English; Sukkot in Hebrew: sukkot is the plural of ‘booth’, ’hut’) vs. 34, 35, 39b, 40, 41, 42, 43b ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths for seven days to YHVH. ‘On the first day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work. On the eighth day there shall be a set-apart gathering for you, It is a closing festival, you do no servile work.  ‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees, and willows of the stream, and shall rejoice before YHVH your Elohim for seven days. ‘And you shall observe it as a festival to YHVH for seven days in the year – a law forever in your generations. ‘Dwell in booths for seven days; I am YHVH your Elohim.ʼ ”

Hanukkah

This day of remembering The Creator’s protection and deliverance is in the bible, was kept by Yeshua, but has not been commanded by The Creator. Miryam (Mary) was visited by the Messenger Gabri-el at this time. Oil burning for 8 days is a myth, the driedle game is a gambling game from Germany, adapted to Hebrew letters, and was never used by the Macabbees.

John 10:22-23 At that time the Ḥanukkah came to be in Yerushalayim, and it was winter. And יYeshua was walking in the Set-apart Place, in the porch of Shelomoh.

1 Maccabees 4:47-59 Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one. They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts. They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple. They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year,bc they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt-offering that they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt-offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving-offering. They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors. There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.
(The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995)

Purim

This day of remembering The Creator’s protection and deliverance is in the bible, but has not been commanded by The Creator.

Esther 9:20-28 And Mordeḵai wrote these matters and sent letters to all the Yehuḏim who were in all the provinces of Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh, both near and far,  to establish among them, to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Aḏar, yearly, as the days on which the Yehuḏim had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a good day, that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor.  And the Yehuḏim undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordeḵai had written to them, because Haman, son of Hammeḏatha the Aḡaḡite, the adversary of all the Yehuḏim, had plotted against the Yehuḏim to destroy them, and had cast Pur – that is, the lot – to crush them and to destroy them. But when she came before the sovereign, he commanded by letter that his evil plot which Haman had plotted against the Yehuḏim should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on the stake. Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had come upon them, the Yehuḏim established and imposed it upon themselves and upon their seed and all who should join them, that without fail they should observe these two days every year, according to their writing and at their appointed time, and that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation, every clan, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Yehuḏim, and that the remembrance of them should not cease from their seed.

(All verses quoted from the ‘Scriptures 1998’ unless otherwise noted.)