Sukkot in 2010 will start on Thursday, the 23rd of September and will continue for 7 days until Wednesday, the 29th of September.  Note that in the Jewish calander, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Jews will celebrate Sukkot on the sunset of Wednesday, the 22nd of September.

 

Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles, commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God took special care of them under impossible conditions. Sukkot lasts for seven (or 8 days), and work is not permitted on the first two days.

 

A "sukkah" is a hut.  "Sukkot" is the plural term meaning huts.  Sukkot is also called "Chag Ha'Asif" ("The Holiday of the Harvest"), because it takes place at the time of year in which the crops were collected from the fields, and in ancient times some of them were brought to the temple.  On the 8th day there is no obligation to sit in the Sukkah, but it is still a holiday in which no work should be done. The uniqueness of this specific day is praying for rain. In Israel this is the time of year when winter begins, and since there is not much rain there, Jews started praying for rain as soon as Sukkot ended.

 

Sukkot became one of the most important feasts in Judaism, as indicated by its designation as “the Feast of the Lord or simply “the Feast”.  Perhaps because of its wide attendance, Sukkot became the appropriate time for important state ceremonies. Moses instructed the children of Israel to gather for a reading of the Law during Sukkot every seventh year (Deut. 31:10-11).  Solomon dedicated the temple on Sukkot (1 Kings 8; 2 Chron. 7). And Sukkot was the first sacred occasion observed after the resumption of sacrifices in Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:2-4).

 

The Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated even during the Millenium.  Zechariah 14:16 says: "And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."