The prayers beginning with the word hosha-na ("please save"), which are recited as congregants make circuits (Hakkafot) in the synagogue while holding the Four Species on the Sukkot festival. The name hoshana for the willow branches which the worshiper holds and beats against the ground, on the seventh day of Sukkot (Hoshana Rabbah), was derived from this.
The Mishnah (Suk. 4:5) states that during Sukkot in Temple times, large willow branches would be set up on each side of the altar, with their tops bent toward it. After four blasts on a Shofar (ram's horn), pilgrims would make a circuit of the altar each day, chanting: "O Lord, deliver us: O Lord, let us prosper!" (Ps. 118:25). In talmudic times, the Four Species were referred to as hoshanot.
The daily circuit was accompanied by prayers and liturgical poems (piyyutim). In the course of time a fixed text developed for each day, the common factor of all the piyyutim being the hosha-na refrain. Even on a Sabbath, when the Four Species are not taken and no circuit is made, the hosha-na passage for the Sabbath is recited. Most of the piyyutim were composed by Eleazar Kallir, or by his teacher, R. Yannai, and by later poets. The hosha-na piyyutim express the feelings of those praying, contain praises of God's attributes, and affirm the longing for redemption.
