FEASTS, or FESTI VA I,S, in it reli gious sense, are aniversury times of feast ing and thanksgiving, such as Christmas Easter, Am. Feasts were of divine insti tution ; intended by the Deity to perpet nate among his chosen people, the Jews, the memory of his mercies and miracles ; as well as to keep alive the friendship betwixt the different tribes and families, by bringing them together on solemn oc casions, and offering up their thanksgiv ings in the holy city.—Among Chris tians, movable feasts :ire those which, depending on astronomical calculations, do not always return on the same days of the year. Of the principal is Easter, which fixes all the rest, as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ash-Wednesday, Sexagesima, Aseension-day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. Immorable feasts, those which are constantly celebrated on the same day ; of these, the principal are Christmas day, or the Nativity, the Cir cumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas or the Purification, Lady-day or the Annuncia tion, AUSaints, and All Souls, and the days of the several apostles. Tire four quarterly feasts, are Lady-day, or the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, on the e5th of March ; the nativity of St. John
the Baptist, on the 24th of June ; the feast of St. Michael, the archangel, on the 29th of September ; and Christmas, or rather of St. Thomas the apostle, on the 21st of December. —The .feasts of the an cients were conducted with great cere mony. The guests wore white garments, decorated themselves with garlands, and often anointed the head, beard, and breast with fragrant oils. The banqueting room was also often adorned with gar lands and roses, which were hung over the table, us the emblem of silence : hence the common phrase, to communi cate a thing sub rosa (under the rose.) The luxurious Romans drank out of crys tal, amber, and the costly murra (a kind of porcelain introduced by Pompey,) as well as onyx, beryl, and elegantly wrought gold, set with precious stones. After the meal was ended, flute players, female singers, dancers and buffoons of all kinds, amused the guests, or the guests themselves joined in various sports and games.