Sukkot

Nationality: American (Jewish and Italian Heritage)
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA and Texas
Performance Date: April 25, 2012
Primary Language: English

“So Sukkot is a Jewish holiday. It’s basically were you celebrate the harvest and there’s a whole ton of traditions, um, that go along with it.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like, um, we shake this, um, we shake something called the Lulav. I don’t really know what that symbolizes but it’s kind of fun. Um, it’s basically we put together some grains in a fruit and we hold it and you shake it in different directions.”

 

“How do you out that in a fruit haha?”

“I don’t know, it’s like a, the lemon thing is called a (proged?). I don’t know if you eat it or what. But anyway, the family tradition we do is um its like a mitzvah to sleep under the stars during the holiday. So, we basically, as a family build this structure outside of our home in the back yard, um, and we, uh, decorate it with lights and a harvest kind of decorations. Like fruit and whatnot. And we sleep outside at night.”

 

“When is it?”

 

“Around October.”

Sukkot, a festival celebrating the harvest, from this perspective, provides an amusing look at how some traditions may continue to be observed but lose their historical background and understanding for their observers.