Sukkot

[cellio]

Tonight begins the week-long festival of Sukkot. (That's "booths", for those who were wondering what all the little huts springing up on lawns in Squirrel Hill are about.) Chag sameach to those who celebrate, and happy fall to everyone else.

Naturally, in a week when we're supposed to take our meals outdoors under the fragile roofs of these booths, it's slated to rain more than a little. :-)

(Oddly, according to my favorite weather site, the equinox is today. Isn't that rather late? Or should I automatically view with suspicion a site that tells me that there are "11:60" hours of daylight today?)

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

Have a blessed Sukkot!

Booths?

[rob-of-unspace.livejournal.com]

A Jewish friend scolded me the other day, saying that she had never heard the term "booths" used in relation to Sukkot. Is this a regionalism, or is she (originally from New York) used to a New Yorkism?

I'd swear I heard it at Washington University when I went there -- at the time it was 70% Jewish. I'd also swear I heard it back when I lived in Squirrel Hill from 1980-1986.

Or maybe she thought I was saying "booze."

I'm really confused.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Well, the US Naval Observatory (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl) and the Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KAGC/2007/9/26/DailyHistory.html) also say that the day of 12-hour sunlight was yesterday. But the local weather folks were saying that the official time of the sun being directly over the equator was in the 5 a.m. hour of *Sunday* morning! I don't know how to explain the discrepancy. I wouldn't be surprised if the equinox was a few hours later than average this year, since it's been 3.5 years since the last Leap Year Day -- but that shouldn't affect it by a whole day, much less two...

And I concur with the wishes that you have a blessed Sukkot.