Sukkah at Hebrew Cultural Garden in Cleveland Ohio
According to Jim Evans, Sukkot is a realtively minor holiday to commemorate the Biblical period of wandering in the desert.
It is commemorated by building a temporary shelter (called a sukkah, usually rhymes with "book a") in the yard and eating meals in it. Some spend considerable time in the sukkah, even sleeping there.
Sukkah at Hebrew Garden in Cleveland on One World Day 2007
Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur, in late September or October, and lasts for 7 days. From the perspective of the Bible and Jewish law, this holiday is every bit as important as Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but most American Jews don't see it that way.
About 10% of Jews do not work on the first two days of this holiday (one day for some branches), in accordance with Jewish law, and will not want to travel during this holiday, because they want to be able to have meals in the sukkah.
The above video is a brief explanation of Sukkot in both English and Hebrew
Jim says, "I have memories from temple school of spending time decorating the temple sukkah. Today, many orthodox homes have a sukkah in their backyard."
Welcome to the Sukkah
Rabbi explaining the Sukkah and Sukkot to visitors
Eating meals, sleeping and spending time in the Sukkah is a unique religious experience. Some have the custom of decorating the Sukkah with fancy decorations such as fruits or New Year’s cards while others prefer to preserve its unadorned simplicity.
