This
Jewish holiday is sometimes called “Feast of the Booths.” The
booths in question are temporary walled structures covered with a
roof made of plant materials such as leafy branches, wood slats, or
palm leaves. A Jewish family builds a sukkah in commemoration
of the fragile and temporary structures that the ancient Israelites lived in,
according to the Torah, during forty years of travel in the desert.
Many families follow the custom of eating their meals in their
sukkot, and some sleep there, too.
It
is customary to decorate the inside of a sukkah with hanging
fruits and grains, because this holiday is a harvest festival, a
thanksgiving, an agricultural ceremony.
The
holiday, which starts today at sundown, lasts until sundown on
October 7.
Check
out this modern (and rather silly) Sukkot
song during a time-lapse video of building a sukkah.
Not
all sukkot
look alike! Two years ago my son-in-law was part of a competition and
exhibition of “reimagined” sukkot
in New York City. He was hired to build the sukkah
called Time/Timeless. Check out this photo gallery of Sukkah City. 
One of my favorite picture books deals with Sukkot: Tikvah Means Hope, by Patricia Polacco.
Also
on this date:
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