The Feast of Tabernacles: Today and in the 1980s
The Churches of God normally have over one hundred Feast of Tabernacles’ sites in various places around the world every year. Today is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles in 2011.
As many who are readers of this page at this time are not at the Feast of Tabernacles now, I thought a series on the sites we attended might be of interest.
I first began to attend the Feast of Tabernacles in 1977. My first feast was at Squaw Valley, California, with an attendance of around 10,000 (all attendance figures will be from my memory of estimated attendance), and this was when I saw Garner Ted Armstrong in person. In 1978, I went to Fresno, California, with an attendance of around 7,000. In 1979, I went to Tucson, Arizona for the feast, with an attendance of nearly 12,000 and this is when I saw Herbert W. Armstrong in person and met Stan Radar. In 1980, I attended the feast in Big Sandy, Texas and slept in a small tent–it rained a lot and this was quite wet–about 7,000 may have attended there that year.
In 1981, this was the first feast I did not drive to, it was Lihue, Hawaii, with about 1,500 in attendance–this was the first time my wife and I were married and attended the same Feast site. In 1982, we went to Anchorage, Alaska with about 500 in attendance.
1983 was the first feast for either of us outside of the USA, as well as the first feast that we began to take slide pictures. We went to Hoogeveen, Netherlands (all of my wife’s grandparents came to the USA from the Netherlands). About 500 attended there that year. We wrote a list of things that were different there compared to the USA. Here are two photos from that feast:
Windmill and canal near Hoogeveen, Netherlands, 1983
In 1984, we went to Sri Lanka for the feast. About 100 or so attended. Sri Lanka was so different from the USA that we thought that perhaps we should write a list of what was the same as in the USA as that would have been a fairly short list. Here are two photos taken at that feast:
Below is the Riverina hotel where church services for the Feast of Tabernacles in 1984 was held:
In 1985, we went to Durban, South Africa. About 1,000 were there. Below is a South African village and a picture of the building services met at in Durban:
In 1986, we went to Pasadena, California for the Feast. We did not take slides, but should we find the photos taken, perhaps they will be added. One thing that puzzled me in 1986, was the fact that I learned that J. Tkach (Sr.) generally did not go anywhere for the Feast of Tabernacles. Later, of course, he and his administration minimized the necessity to observe God’s festivals.
In 1987, we went to Rotorua, New Zealand for the Feast. About 1200 of so attended there that year. We stayed at the Geyserland Hotel where we saw geysers and boiling mud everyday. The city has a sulfur smell, which when you are there a while, you get used to. Below is the view from our hotel room as well as a countryside photo taken:
In 1989, we went to the south Pacific nation of Fiji. About 200 or so attended that year, including Roderick C. Meredith, now of the Living Church of God:
In the 1980s, there were over 100 feast sites pretty much every year, and thus we tended to have a lot of choices about where to attend. Though even now, the Living Church of God has over 40 sites (other COGs also have sites, so there are probably closer to 200 in total, though many are quite small).
Three articles of possibly related interest may include:
Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? Did they? Did Jesus? Should you?
The Feast of Tabernacles: A Time for Christians? Is this pilgrimage holy day still valid? Does it teach anything relevant for today’s Christians?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2017, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂
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