TABERNACLES 1837-'9), and Friedrich, Symbolik der mosai- schen StiftsMtte (Leipsic, 1841). TABERNACLES, Feast of (Heb. 'hag JiasmTcotn), one of the three great festivals of the Jews, observed after harvest, and beginning on the 15th day of the month Tisri. It commemora- ted God's protecting care over his people while they dwelt in the wilderness. It was also a harvest feast or thanksgiving. It continued eight (among the exiled Jews nine) days, the first and last (in exile the first two and last two) of which were the most important. To the ceremonies of the festival belongs the wa- ving toward the four quarters of the world of fine fruits and leafy branches, with the singing of liturgical songs, commonly called, from the repetition of the words hosici 1 na (Oh save !), Hosanna. On the seventh day this was re- peated, for the last time, with greater solem- nity. During the first seven days the living in booths was obligatory, which is still partially observed by the Jews in most countries. Sac- rifices took place in the temple, and in later times also a ceremony of "pouring water " on the sacrifice, and a great illumination of the outer court, with dances by torchlight. TABOR, Mount (Gr. 'Arapvpiov ; now Jebel et- Tur), an insulated eminence in the plain of Esdraelon, about 6 m. S. E. of Nazareth, in Galilee, commonly regarded as the scene of the transfiguration of Christ. It is about 1,800 ft. high, composed entirely of limestone, and its sides are covered up to the summit with the valonia oak, wild pistachios, myrtles, and other shrubs. Its summit is a plateau about 600 yards in extent from N. to S. and 300 yards across. All around this plain are traces of an ancient wall, and below it on the S. E. side of the hill are the ruins of a fortification, a gateway of Saracenic architecture called " the gate of the wind," and a small vault where the Latin monks from Nazareth annually celebrate the transfiguration. Among the ruins of a church on the N. side of the mountain the Greeks ob- serve the same festival. Tabor is several times mentioned in the Old Testament, and upon it Deborah and Barak assembled the warriors of Israel previous to the battle with Sisera. There was upon it a city of the Levites of the tribe of Zebulon, which was taken and forti- fied by Antiochus the Great, 218 B. C. In 55 B. C. a battle was fought near it between the Romans under the proconsul Gabinius and the Jews under Alexander the son of Aristobu- lus, in which 10,000 Jews were slain. Tabor is not named in the New Testament, and was first mentioned as the place of the transfigura- tion in the 4th century. At the foot of it the crusaders several times fought the Moslems, and Napoleon gained a victory over the Turks. TABORITES. See HUSSITES. TABRIZ, Tebriz, or Tanris, a walled city of Persia, capital of the province of Azerbijan, in lat. 38 4' N., Ion. 46 15' E., near the river Aji ; pop. about 120,000. It stands on a wide plain, 4,944 ft. above the sea, enclosed on all TACHE 551 sides but the west by low mountains or hills. The vicinity is very fertile, and beautified by innumerable fruit gardens, celebrated for their peaches and apricots, and producing grapes from which is made a wine resembling Marsa- la. ^ The wall of sun-dried bricks is about 3 m. in circuit. The streets are narrow and tor- tuous, and the houses low and flat, but there is a large square, and the bazaars are numer- ous and spacious. The most remarkable build- ings are the citadel, a lofty structure with massive brick walls ; the Blue mosque, built in the 17th century by Abbas the Great, but now in ruins; and the villa of the heir apparent to the Persian throne, who resides here as governor of Azerbijan. Tabriz is one of the most important commercial cities in Persia. It is on the caravan route between the interior and Trebizond and Tiflis, and carries on a large foreign trade, also maintaining manufactories City Gate, Tabriz. of silk and cotton goods. According to Per- sian tradition, Tabriz was founded by Zobeida, wife of Haroun al-Rashid; but the town ex- isted in antiquity, and under the name of Ga- zaca was the capital of the Median province of Atropatene. At a later period it was the capital of Tiridates III., king of Armenia. It was visited by Marco Polo about 1293, and in 1320 there appear to have been Venetians settled there, and a Genoese factory in 1341. The present number of European inhabitants probably does not exceed 100. Tabriz has fre- quently been captured by the Turks, and it has often been damaged by earthquakes. The An- glo-Indian telegraph line passes through the city. TACHE, Alexandra, a Canadian archbishop, born at Kamouraska, Lower Canada, in 1822. He graduated at the college of St. Hyacinthe, became an Oblate of the Immaculate Concep- tion, and in 1843 asked to be sent to the Red River mission. He was ordained priest at St. Boniface, and devoted himself to the Indian tribes beyond the civilized regions of Canada, especially along the valley of the Saskatchewan. He was among the first to penetrate into the unexplored portions of the northwestern ter- ritory, and contributed toward the colonization and progress of Manitoba. He was consecrated
