The term High Sabbaths is used by some Christians to refer to the Jewish High Holy Days. There are seven annual Biblical festivals specified in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.
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The seven festivals do not necessarily occur on the weekly Shabbat (seventh-day Sabbath) and are called by the name miqra ("called assembly") in Hebrew. They are observed by Jews and a minority of Christians. Three of them occur in spring: the first and seventh days of Pesach (Passover), and Shavuot (Pentecost). Four occur in fall, in the seventh month, and are also called shabbaton: Rosh Hashanah (Trumpets); Yom Kippur, the "Sabbath of Sabbaths" (Atonement); and the first and eighth days of Sukkoth.
The Gospel of John says of the night immediately following Christ's burial that "that sabbath day was a high day" (John 19:31-47). That night was Nisan 15, the first day of Passover week (Unleavened Bread) and an annual miqra and rest day, in most chronologies. (In other systems, it was Nisan 14, i.e., weekly but not annual Sabbath.) The King James Version may thus be the origin of naming the annual rest days "High Sabbaths".
The phrase "high Sabbath" has been defined by Danny ben Gigi, former professor of Hebrew Language at Arizona State University, as synonymous with "Shabbat Hagadol", whichever Shabbat precedes Passover in any year. This viewpoint is based on the absence of references in Torah that refer to feast days as "high", although it is harder to reconcile strictly with New Testament chronology.
The ten-day period between the High Sabbaths of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is commonly referred to as the related High Holy Days or High Holidays.