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Shavuot

Find the date for Shavuot 2014 in the multifaith calendar

Shavuot is one of the Jewish harvest festivals, also known as the festival or feast of 'Weeks'.

(The other two Jewish agricultural festivals are Passover and Sukkot.)

There is no set date for the two-day festival, but it takes place seven weeks (fifty days) after the first day of the spring festival of Passover.

Origins of Shavuot

This time of year marks the start of the wheat harvest and the end of the barley harvest.

Shavuot also marks the time that the Jews were given the Torah on Mount Sinai. It is considered a highly important historical event.

Shavuot is sometimes called the Jewish Pentecost. The word Pentecost here refers to the count of fifty days after Passover. The Christian festival of Pentecost also has its origins in Shavuot.

Shavuot rituals and celebrations

Prayers are said on Shavuot (especially at dawn) to thank God for the five books of Moses (collectively known as the Torah) and for his law. Some people also spend the first night of Shavuot studying the Torah.

Synagogues are decorated with flowers and plants on this joyous occasion to remember the flowers of Mount Sinai.

Food traditions

Dairy products are eaten during Shavuot. There are many interpretations about why this custom is observed.

It is believed that once the rules about the preparation of meat were revealed in the Torah, the people of Sinai were reluctant to eat meat until they fully understood the rules.

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• Moses