cellio | daf bit: Chagigah 26

Near the end of the tractate the rabbis discuss cleaning up after the festival is over. The mishna teaches: as soon as the festival is over they cleared up for the purification of the temple court, but if the festival ended on Friday they didn't because of the honor of Shabbat. R. Yehudah said not on Thursday either, because the priests weren't yet free at the end of the festival. The g'mara clarifies that this last part means that they had to take out the ashes from the altar.

The mishna goes on to say that all the vessels in the temple had second and third sets, lest the primary ones become ritually impure (tamei). All the vessels were required to be immersed (in a mikvah) at the end of the festival, except the altars. The rabbis disagree on the reason the altars are excluded, but none of they say "because they were too big and heavy", to my surprise. (26a-b)

(Today's daf is 24.)