Quince Appears

I got to help build a Sukkah this weekend. First time for this post-Soviet Jew. It's a tent-like shelter built for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. We build it as a reminder that our people were nomads, wondering in the desert, living in tents and also to celebrate harvest time (a tent for living out in the fields during busy harvest, I am guessing). Judaism 101 website explains this in more detail.

My favorite parts were building it with kids. They were really into it. How fun to built a life sized tent out of sticks and leaves!

One of the girls suggested weaving the nearby, living grapevine around the Sukkah, which turned out awesome. The purple clusters hung from the wooden frame and we snacked on the grapes as we decorated.

There were also garlands made of musical notes and other fruits and vegetables as decorations, to honor the abundance of autumn. Speaking of harvest, for the last couple of weeks, I have been looking around for a Quince tree, wanting to harvest its fruit for a delicious quince jam. Well, when we were untwirling the overgrown grape vines for the Sukkah, a small quince tree full of quinces emerged from under the grapy mess! The quince tree just appeared! The Sukkah led me to the quinces. Some people say that this is where the Pilgrims got their idea for Thanksgiving. It is a fun fall thing to do, to celebrate the pleasures of the harvest and to be grateful for them.

I found these pretty honeysuckle berries for decorating. They are not edible.

After we build it, we are supposed to sit in it as much as possible during the week of the holiday. So here we are sitting in it.

And of course I appreciate rituals like these that preserve the stories of the Jewish culture as we try to figure out why the heck our people build this earthy tent every year.