Celebrate fall at the JCC’s Sukkot Harvest Day
Posted by Sarah W on September 28, 2012
Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker
Fall is finally here. The weather is cooler, or at least it seemed to be for a little while, and Halloween is already creeping up on us. But before you pick out your costumes and plan your trick-or-treating routes, why not take some time to learn about another tradition that comes in the fall?
The Jewish fall harvest festival, Sukkot, also known as the Festival of Booths, is an annual celebration of the year’s first harvest, and you have a chance to share in the tradition at the Barshop Jewish Community Center’s Sukkot Harvest Day on Sunday, September 30. From 11:30 am – 3 pm this free festival is open to the public as a fun celebration of fall, tradition, and history.
There’s a lot that goes into the harvest festival. Sukkot highlights both agricultural and historical traditions. It celebrates the final gathering of fruit and produce for the year, and historically it represents the journey of the Jewish people through the desert after the exodus from Egypt. During their time of journeying, the travelers would build and live in a sukkah, a temporary booth-like shelter that provided shade but also let those inside it see the sky. Meals were shared in the sukkah, which is traditionally decorated with palm branches and hanging fruit. The sukkah now acts as a symbol for the fragility of life, and at festival time, people can connect with this part of Jewish history by replicating these types of structures.
At the JCC’s Harvest Day, children can try their hand at building the fragile sukkah structures out of something tasty and more manageable for little fingers…gingerbread. Workshops to build gingerbread sukkahs start every 30 minutes during the festival, led by gingerbread icon Kit Myers.
You’ll also find delicious harvest food at the JCC’s Sukkot Harvest Day. Try the roasted corn, and celebrate the harvest San Antonio style by sampling local salsas.
Sukkot Harvest Day is a time to survey and give thanks for the year’s harvest, whether it’s food or something more that’s been harvested throughout the year. Celebrate your blessings with the whole family and share in the fun and tradition of Sukkot Harvest Day.
If you’d like to know more about Sukkot, this website can help answer your questions and curiosities. And for more information about the JCC event call 210-302-6832.
