HABDALA (lit. " separation ")  , a Hebrew term chiefly appropriated to ceremonies at the conclusion of Sabbath and festivals, marking the separation between times sacred and secular . On the Saturday night the ceremony consists of three items: (a) benediction over a cup of wine (common to many other Jewish functions); (b) benediction over a lighted taper, of which possibly the origin is utilitarian, as no light might be kindled on the Sabbath day, but the rite may be symbolical; and (c) benediction over a box of sweet-smelling spices . The origin of the latter has been traced to the bowl of burning spice which in Talmudic times was introduced after each meal . But here too symbolic ideas must be taken into account . Both the light and the spices would readily fit into the conception of the Sabbath " Over-soul " of the mystics . (I .