Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' "
Leviticus 23:23-25

Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Jewish New Year and is observed during the first two days in the month of Tishri according to the Jewish calendar. The New Year is about the Creation but also about the Judgement.

In the first afternoon of the Feast, unless it is the Sabbath, you go to a lake or a stream to symbolically casting off your sins into the water by throwing bread crumbs into it. This ceremony is called `tashlich` and means casting off.

The blowing of the Shofar (ram’s horn) is heard in the synagogues and its sound exhorts the people present to pray for forgiveness. On this day it is custom to look back on your life and contemplate whether you have followed the Laws of God. Through prayer and repentance you can receive God’s forgiveness. Most people spend the entire Feast inside the synagogue.

The Feast is the beginning of the Ten days of Awe and ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Days of Awe are some of the most important days of the Jewish year.

The whole month of Tishri is a month of conversion and it begins with Rosh Hashanah and is followed by Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. According to Jewish tradition Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of the creation of the world.

During Rosh Hashanah it is custom to eat apples dipped in honey. Fish is also traditional food during this Feast. However, it is only the head of the fish that is eaten because you want to be “head and not tail”. The challah bread are made round instead of oval and are eaten with honey instead of, as is tradition, salt. This is all symbolic of the wish for a sweet New Year.