The Jewish holiday Sukkot

The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot, lasts seven days. This year it began on Sunday evening of October 13 with sunset. Along with Shavuot and Passover, Sukkot is one of the three Jewish pilgrimage festivals.

Sukkot is a harvest festival, with which the joy of a rich harvest is brought to expression. The Hebrew name "Sukkot" comes from "Sukka" . Already in biblical times people lived in such huts near the fields for harvesting.

The Sukka Tabernacle

Even today, in the days before the holiday, Jewish families still build a temporary hut from branches, twigs, foliage and - if you have one - palm fronds. Many decorate it festively with fruits and colourful garlands, flags or scarves. Living in this homemade Sukka is the main focus this week, where people eat and sometimes even sleep.

The festival also commemorates the 40-year journey of the people of Israel through the desert into the promised land. During this time the wanderers had no fixed houses to protect them from the cold, sun or rain, but only temporary huts. A good reason to think about the situation of people who are still on the run today.

Send us your Sukka!

We collect pictures of the most beautiful Sukka from all over the world. Send us photos of your self-built hut to info@house-of-one.org or to our Twitter, Instagram- or Facebook profiles. We are looking forward to many pictures, which we will publish afterwards in a gallery on this website.

One of the rituals at Sukkot is the shaking of the festive bouquet, the so-called Lulav. The "bouquet of the four species" is bound from various plants and fruits. These include palm and myrtle branches, thin branches of the brook willow and a citrus fruit, the Etrog.

The seven feast days are followed by another day of rest, Schemini Azeret. Together with the festival Simchat Tora (Torah joy), at which the reading of the Torah is finished, this forms the conclusion of the Sukkots.