This is one of the three pilgrimage festivals(Passover,
Shavuot and Sukkot), when Jews came to Jerusalem, to the Holy Temple,
to offer sacrifices. In the agricultural society of that time, most
of the festivals were associated with the growing seasons: Shavuot
- the Festival of the First Fruits, was designated as the time of
the wheat harvest. Farmers would bring offerings to the Temple from
the first produce to ripen in their fields - choice fruits from the
seven species. The First Fruits were brought to the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem. When the farmers arrived in Jerusalem, the city's nobles
and the priests were waiting at the entrance to the city, and when
they reached the Temple, priests dressed in their holiday finery would
accept the gifts from them. All of this took place during the timwhen
the Temple stood in Jerusalem.
