photo: Internet-sourced

Wait, I was wrong. It was not Hanukkah which Mord told me about. It was Sukkot. The information I have read on the latter accurately matches Mord's description of it. It was late August, and he expressed his worries on being stuck in his mother's house while the -- holiday was approaching. I asked him if he was referring to Christmas, and I later realized it was sort of stupid of me to ask that. He mentioned the name of the holiday once again, and desribed it as a feast when "Jewish people create booths or huts on their porches" or something of that sort.

The holiday lasts seven days, including Chol Hamoed and is immediately followed by another festive day known as Shemini Atzeret. The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth or hut. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of fragile dwellings in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Throughout the holiday the sukkah becomes the living area of the house, and all meals are eaten in it. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav and etrog, or Four species.