Sukkot, a Jewish festival, is one of the most important and holiest Jewish observances of the year. The Jewish festival is also called as Chag Ha-Asif, Festival of Ingathering or Feast of Tabernacles. The festival starts on the 15th day of Tishri, the first month of the year in the Jewish calendar.
Sukkot, which means rejoicing and celebrating life, is celebrated for seven days and this year the festival will be observed from October 16 to 23.
Members of the Samaritan community take part in a traditional pilgrimage marking the holiday of Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles, atop Mount Gerizim near the West Bank city of Nablus early October 27, 2015. The Samaritans, who trace their roots to the northern Kingdom of Israel in what is now the northern West Bank, observe religious practices similar to those of Judaism.Reuters
Sukkot means booths, which refers to the temporary dwelling with a thatched roof. During these seven days, Jewish families live in these booths, which are usually built in a garden or on a balcony, in the memory of the ancient Israelites' life of wandering in the wilderness.
The Jewish festival is marked to commemorate the 40-year period during which the Israelites lived in structures like these temporary booths. Nowadays several people use palm tree branches and leaves to make the structures. The interiors of these booths are decorated with the Four Species – four plants mentioned in the Torah. The Four Species are citrus etrog fruit, a lulav, brava – a form of willow branch – and a hadass - leafy boughs from the myrtle tree. Sukkah's are also decorated with fruits and vegetables.
Check out the photos of Sukkot celebrations below:
Jewish worshippers cover themselves in prayer shawls during the priestly blessing at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old CityReuters
A member of a priestly caste is covered with a prayer shawl as he recites a special blessing during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old CityReuters
Members of the Samaritan sect decorate with fruits and vegetables a traditional hut known as a sukkah, which is a ritual hut used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, on Mount Gerizim on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, October 13, 2016.Reuters
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man carries palm branches used to cover a ritual booth known as a sukkah during the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sunset on Sunday, in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood October 16, 2016.Reuters
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man inspects an etrog, citrus fruit used in rituals during the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood, October 13, 2016.Reuters
A woman from the Samaritan sect decorates with fruits and vegetables a traditional hut known as a "sukkah", which is a ritual hut used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, on Mount Gerizim on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, October 13, 2016.Reuters
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth sits next to etrogs, citrus fruit used in rituals performed during the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sunset on Sunday, in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood October 16, 2016.Reuters
