Last night began Sukkot, the holiday of thanksgiving for the harvest and commemorating the forty years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Traditionally people eat their meals in the sukkah, which is built open to the sky, and is a symbol of the huts that were lived in during the wandering in the desert. Happily today it was quite warm and no coats and gloves were needed at the sukkah our congregation builds.When I was growing up my parents were responsible for decorating our congregation's sukkah. Like most activities in the 1950s we were there as a family, stringing cranberries and popcorn and making paper chains. This holiday, like every other, takes on a special poignancy as I grow older and memories of childhood come back from a long ago time. Is this similar for all of you, dear blog friends? What are some of your favorite memories from holidays gone by?
As always, thanks for stopping by and visiting Buttercupland. Please come and visit often!
My great grandparents came to America from Sweden. When we'd have our large family reunion at their home on Christmas Eve, they'd always give us an apple, an orange, a piece of fudge and a piece of divinity as we left to go home. It was a Swedish tradition that no one left the celebration without a "Gud Jul" and an abundance of provision.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, I have to laugh. When I lived in that Hassidic compound, they made those huts! But they ate in them a LOT! And I had a kitty that liked to hunt lizards in the palm fronds atop the huts...and the huts would come crashing down and knock-knock-knock a red-faced neighbor would angrily say the cats had knocked them down...AGAIN...husband finally went and constructed a better frame up top so the kitty couldn't do her mischief...
ReplyDeleteOooo, I didn't answer your question! As to past memories, I do have some happy ones, but they are so tangled up in sadness and missing the dead that I can't really tease them out anymore...
ReplyDeleteIs good to read about the Jewish holidays. And each observance is so symbolic and maningful. God wants His people to remember past history.
ReplyDeleteWhat special food do you have/
I love it that you share your traditions with us. Otherwise, how would someone is small town USA know of them? It's very interesting.
ReplyDeleteWe had an annual Winter Walk, and had a huge bonfire for my brother's late fall birthday, made kolache every Christmas, commenorating our Czeck heritage.