Sukkot, now being celebrated by Jews around the world, is a week-long Jewish holiday. It begins each year five days after Yom Kippur, the day of atonement that's the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Sukkut, by contrast, is a joyous holiday. It celebrates the traditional gathering of the harvest. It also commemorates the protection that God provided the Israelites when they left Egypt.

Jews celebrate Sukkot by building foliage-covered temporary booths or huts called Sukka. They eat and entertain in the Sukka, some of them even sleep there overnight.

Another Sukkot tradition is the gathering of four special species of vegetation. There's a date frond, a myrtle branch, a willow bough, and a citron fruit. These are waved in the sukkah in celebration.

The seven days of Sukkot are followed immediately by another holiday called Simchat Torah. That marks the start of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah.