Sukkot: The Festival of Booths

As you drive around town this week, you may see temporary booths erected in either backyards or driveways.

This week (through Oct. 19) is the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, a week-long fall festival. Once a holiday of agricultural thanksgiving, Sukkot is named after the booths or huts (sukkot in Hebrew) that farmers would live in during the harvest period before the coming of the winter rains. The holiday also commemorates the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert, with the huts representing the temporary shelters they lived in after escaping from slavery in Egypt.

A sukkah has to be a temporary structure with at least three sides. The roof is covered with thatch or branches or plant material, but is open enough to allow the stars to be seen at night. It is traditional to decorate the sukkah, and weather permitting, meals are eaten in the sukkah. Some people even sleep in them.

The flimsy structure reminds us of the fragility of life and to be thankful we have shelter. Sukkot is a joyful holiday which is referred to as the “season of our joy.”

Please feel free to add photos of your sukkah directly to this story, or email them to the editor, ronni.newton@patch.com.