Sukkot begins at sundown

A celebration of the fall harvest that begins five days after Yom Kippur, Sukkot is named after the booths or huts (sukkot in Hebrew) in which Jews are supposed to dwell during this week-long celebration. According to rabbinic tradition, these flimsy structures represent the huts in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of  wandering in the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt.

Much of the imagery and ritual of the holiday revolves around rejoicing and thanking God for the completed harvest. The sukkot represents the huts that farmers would live in during the last frantic days of harvest before the coming of the winter rains.

The festival of Sukkot is one of the three great pilgrimage festivals (chaggim or regalim) of the Jewish year.