Just as it was performed on the weekdays, so it was performed on the Sabbath, except they gathered them on the eve of the Sabbath and placed them in golden vessels so that they should not wilt.  R’ Yochanan ben Berokah says: They brought date palm branches and beat them on the ground at the sides of the Altar. That day was called the day of the beating of the [date palm] branches.

Immediately the children loosened their lulavim and ate their esrogim.