This is a colourful poster from 1976 celebrating the festival of Shavuot. The large image in the centre of the poster is a Sephardi Torah scroll that is has been opened wide. Inside are the words from Exodus 34:22, “You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest,” describing the bikkurim ceremony that used to take place in the Temple on Shavuot. This ceremony consisted of bringing the first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to the Kohanim (priests). The Torah in the poster is topped with two types of ornaments. In the middle is a crown and on both sides are Torah finials, which are decorations that sit on the etz haim (wooden poles) and often have silver bells hanging from them. Below the Torah is a floral design representing the greenery that is used to decorate synagogues on Shavuot. The poster’s dominant colours are red, green, purple, and yellow.
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Shavuot - Shavuot, also known as the Festival of Weeks – is celebrated on the sixth of Sivan. Shavuot, one of the three biblical pilgrim festivals, commemorates many different things: it marks the day that the Israelites received the Torah on Mount Sinai; it celebrates the wheat harvest in Israel; and it signifies the end of the Counting of the Omer. It is celebrated with many colourful and festive traditions such as holding bikkurim ceremonies, eating dairy food, decorating the synagogue with flowers and greenery, reading the Book of Ruth, and studying the Torah all through the night (Tikkun Leil Shavuot). In modern Israel, kibbutzim celebrate Shavuot and the bikkurim with processions displaying their produce of the previous year, including fruit and vegetables, farm animals, and even the new babies!
