Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

Pentecost, the feast of harvest, came fifty days after the
offering of firstfruits. As an expression of gratitude for grain, two
loaves baked with yeast were presented before God. Pentecost was
just one day, which was devoted to religious service.
The Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering, came in the seventh
month. This feast acknowledged God's rich blessings in the produce
from the orchard, olive grove, and vineyard. It was the crowning
festival-gathering of the year. The harvest had been gathered into
the granaries, the fruits, oil, and wine had been stored, and now the
people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God.
This feast was a time of rejoicing. It took place just after the
great Day of Atonement, when the people had received assurance
that their sins would no longer be remembered. At peace with God,
with the work of the harvest ended and the work of the new year not
yet begun, the people could give themselves fully to the sacred,
joyous experiences of the hour. As far as possible, all the household
were to attend the feasts, and the servants, the Levites, the stranger,
and the poor were made welcome to their hospitality.
Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated
past events. In memory of their pilgrim life in the wilderness, the
people were to leave their homes and dwell in booths, or arbors,
formed from the green branches "of beautiful trees, branches of
palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook."
(Leviticus 23:40).
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