Sukkot Festival

Sukkot Festival is a week-long Jewish celebration of the fall season. This festival is a little like Thanksgiving. It is a festival that commemorates the biblical story of the Jews’ escape from Egypt. According to the story, the Jews wandered for 40 years through the desert, living in temporary shelters. Moreover, the festival is also a way for the Jews to celebrate Israel’s bountiful harvests. Therefore, the purpose of the festival could be the celebration of having a good harvest season and shelter.

During Sukkot Festival, families build makeshift huts, called sukkah, with open roofs. For the following seven days, they eat and occasionally sleep here. Every day, to thank the bounties from the land, wands made of willow, myrtle, and palm are shaken in all directions with the addition of a citron (a type of lemon). Every year, on Sukkot Festival, tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims make their way to Jerusalem’s Old City, with crowds of men and women spilling out from the Wall’s plaza to surrounding areas. On the seventh day of the festival, known as Hoshana Rabba ("Great Hosanna"), a sevenfold circuit of the synagogue is made using the four plants as part of the celebration.

Duration: 7 days, from the 15th day of Tishri (in September or October)

Location: Jerusalem, Israel