On Shavuot, which celebrates Moses being given the Tablets with the Ten Commandments, the synagogue in Ioannina, especially the Bima and Ehal were decorated with floral garlands and vases of flowers as a reminder of the flower festival of nature. This is why Turks living in Ioannina called Shavuot the Festival of Flowers or Gioul Bairam. The season that begins with Pessah ends fifty days later with Shavuot. That is why Greek speaking Jews often refer to Shavuot as Pentekosti (Pentecost = fiftiest) probably equating it with the Christian Pentecost.
