Most will be heading to one of the Feast of Tabernacles sites today, if you haven’t left already. I want to wish everyone a blessed and enjoyable Feast!
At PhiloLogos.org, there is an interesting reference to the Feast of Tabernacles in the online book The Temple: Its Ministry and Services:
On the day before the Feast of Tabernacles— 14th Tishri— festive pilgrims had all arrived in Jerusalem. The ‘booths’ on the roofs, in the courtyards, in streets and squares, as well as roads and gardens, within a Sabbath day’s journey, must have given the city and neighbourhood an unusually picturesque appearance. The preparation of all that was needed for the festival—, the care of the offerings that each would bring, and friendly communications between those who were to be invited to the sacrificial meal— doubt sufficiently occupied their time. When the early autumn evening set in, the blasts of the priests’ trumpets on the Temple Mount announced to Israel the advent of the feast.
~ Edersheim, Alfred. (27 May 2001 for online edition). The Feast of Tabernacles. In The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (Chapter 14). Retrieved from: http://philologos.org/__eb-ttms/temple14.htm.
The hustle and bustle and the excitement that is in the air during opening night of the Feast of Tabernacles is a great gateway to rejoicing at the Feast!