What does the Sukkot festival represent?

The Sukkot festival or the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles is an autumnal Jewish festival which lasts a week during the Jewish lunar-solar calendar month of Tishrei (between September and October on the Gregorian calendar). The celebration involves reconstructing the booths that were used by the Jewish people during their exodus from Egypt through the desert and on the way to the promised land of Canaan. The children of Israel lived in the desert for 40 years after they left their enslavement.

As an agricultural festival, Sukkot was celebrated as a day of thanksgiving for the autumn harvests and for the bounty of nature throughout the year in general.

The Les Cabanyelles festival begins when the first stars appear on the night of 16 October, and will end on 23 October. Together with Pesach and Shavuot, Sukkot is one of the most important festivals in Judaism. It involved three ancient pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem.

The booth or sukkah

The Torah commands the Jews to leave home and move into a sukkah (booth or tabernacle, the singular of the word sukkot) during the week-long festival.

‘And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: Ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.’

Leviticus 23:41-43

So Jews build a booth, either on the balcony or in the courtyard of their houses, which is suitable for eating and sleeping in. To emphasise the temporary nature of the sukkah, it has to be built in a way that is reminiscent of the precariousness of the booths in the desert, and only natural materials can be used. The shape of the booths has to follow several rules: they have to have at least three walls and a roof made with branches and leaves that allows the sky to remain visible. Only natural materials found in the desert can be used to build them. Therefore, all the sukkot have to be placed outdoors, and coloured decorations are strung inside to celebrate the harvest. Sukkot not only commemorates the difficult time in the desert but is also based on agriculture and appreciation for nature’s bounty.

It is traditional to invite friends and family to enjoy the festival, as the booths also symbolise strength and unity through hospitality. A series of rituals are held in the booths that include the blessing of the ‘four species’: palm (lulav), citrus (etrog), myrtle (hadass) and willow (aravah) trees.

Given the difficulty of putting up booths (sukkot) in modern cities, communal booths are used throughout the Jewish world. The first communal booth in Spain was created in Barcelona in 2018.

The Jewish community in Barcelona

Judaism has been present in the city since the Middle Ages, but its continuity was affected by different policies and periods of persecution. The Jewish community has been active again in the city since the twentieth century. The Jewish communities in Barcelona represent all the main currents of Judaism (orthodox, reform and progressive) and are an example of coexistence in religious plurality and diversity in the city.

When and where? 

• WHEN: from the evening of 16 October to 23 October 2024
• WHERE:
  • Ciutat Vella district (Barcelona Jabad Lubavitch Community): Plaça de Garriga i Bachs.
  • Les Corts district (Barcelona Jabad Lubavitch Community Barcelona): Plaça del Carme (on the corner with C/ Entença, 284).

The official opening is to ill take place at the sukkà in Plaça de Garriga i Bachs at 6.30 pm on 21 October.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE EXPLAINING THE SUKKOT FESTIVAL HERE (Catalan)!