Sukkot is one of the most complex and joyous holidays of the Jewish calendar.  This list of facts will provide an introduction to the holiday, its background, and rituals.

• The Holiday of Sukkot (usually translated as Tabernacles or the Festival of Booths) commemorates the Israelites' wanderings in the desert following their Exodus from Egypt, during which time they lived in portable shelters or booths
• Sukkot is one of three festivals each year during which the Israelites made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem
• Sukkot continues the story of the Israelites, which began with the Exodus from Egypt (Passover) and the Giving of the Torah at Sinai (Shavuot) and now ends with the wandering in the desert.
• Sukkot marks a pivotal agricultural season: Sukkot falls at the end of the autumn fruit harvest.
• Sukkot is traditionally celebrated by building, eating in, and sometimes sleeping in a sukkah, a temporary structure usually constructed of four walls and covered with a roof of tree branches.
• The sukkah has at least three sides, a roof is made out of thatch or branches, which provides some shade and protection from the sun, but also lets you see the stars.
• We lift and shake the four species in four directions (north, south, east, and west) - a palm branch, three branches of myrtle, two willow branches (the lulav) and a citron (the etrog).
• In a welcoming ceremony called ushpizin, ancestors are symbolically invited into the sukkah to partake in the meals with us.
• In addition to special festival readings, including Psalms of praise (Hallel), on Sukkot additional prayers are included in the service asking God to save us (hoshana, from which we get the English word hosanna).
• During the Hoshana prayers, congregants march around the synagogue sanctuary holding the lulav and etrog. The seventh and last day of the festival is called Hoshana Rabba, the "Great Hoshana."
• During the intermediate days of Sukkot (called Chol Ha'Moed), one is allowed to work and participate in other everyday activities, though one still holds and waves the lulav and etrog on a daily basis and eats meals in the sukkah.
• The theme of a temporary, flimsy shelter focuses us on the important things in life and removes us from thoughts of material and sometimes trivial possessions.
• Sukkot is referred to as zeman simchateynu, the "season of our joy."