Sukkot 2019: What’s the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles and how is the festival celebrated?
SUKKOT is a weeklong Jewish festival that begins five days after Yom Kippur.
So what is being celebrated? Here's what you need to know...
What is Sukkot?
Sukkot is a Jewish holiday which is all about giving thanks for the autumn harvest and commemorating the 40 years Israelis spent wandering the desert after leaving slavery in Egypt.
A "sukkah" is a booth or hut, and "sukkot" is the plural form of the word - hence the name is a nod to the temporary shelters Jews lived in at this time.
The holiday also can be translated as Feast of Tabernacles or Festival of Booths.
It is one of Judaism's three central pilgrimage festivals - along with Passover and Shavuot.
When does Sukkot 2019 start and end?
Sukkot is a week-long festival which falls on the 15th day of Tishrei on the Jewish calendar, five days after Yom Kippur.
This year the holiday begins in the evening of Sunday October 13 and runs up until the evening of Sunday October 20.
Like Easter, it's a movable feast which can take place in either September or October.
The main holy days fall between Wednesday and Friday night, while the following days are seen as quasi holidays.
While, in Israel, they only take one day of holiday.
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How is Sukkot celebrated?
Traditionally, Jews eat all their meals in a festively decorated sukkah during the week of Sukkot.
People are also expected to extend hospitality to the needy and less well off during Sukkot.
While worshippers should read the Torah every day, and rituals include the Four Species.
It's custom to buy a lulav (palm frond, myrtle twigs and willow twigs) and etrog (citrus fruit), and shake them daily throughout the festival.