Culture Corner AND Holiday Hoopla - Sukkot

Sukkot, or the Festival of Booths, is a Jewish celebration that takes place in September or October.  It is a time of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest.  One of the customs of Sukkot is to build a harvest booth, or sukkah, in a place outside the house.  The sukkah is decorated with harvest fruits, and a roof is made by placing green tree branches across the top.  During the week-long festival, many families often gather inside the sukkah to eat their meals.

Making a Sukkah

Let your children help create a sukkah for your celebration.  To make a three-sided booth, place two chairs against a wall, about four feet apart, with their backs to each other.  Make a roof of branches topping with a green blanket.  Let children use play food or plastic fall decorations to decorate their sukkah.

Another option for making your own sukkah that I have found online is to build one out of legos. This example was found at Bible Belt Balabusta.

It is Harvest Time

Sung to: "Ten Little Indians"

Gather up the food and put it in your basket,

Gather up the food and put it in your basket,

Gather up the food and put it in your basket.

It is harvest time.

Additional Verses: Gather up the corn, the grapes, the pumpkins, the apples, the nuts, the carrots, the berries, etc.

Harvest Snacks

At snack time discuss foods that are harvested.  Set our bowls of foods such as nuts, seeds, dried fruits and raw veggies.  Let each child place a small amount from each bowl in a resealable plastic sandwich bag and eat their snack in your sukkah.

Because Sukkot happens during the harvest, apples are a traditional food. I found a new take on the candy apple using one of my favorite foods - chocolate!- at Chabad and we will definitely be trying this out. I'm thinking that perhaps adding a layer of chocolate over a caramel dipped apple would also be wonderful!

One of the first questions I had when looking for Sukkot ideas was how to incorporate culture without religion. This is a fine line as the two are interwoven throughout the world. When I present any of these projects I am careful to refer to them as part of Jewish culture and we do not mention the religious aspect of any of these activities. I believe it is important to educate our children about as many cultures of the world as we can. We truly only fear what we do not understand.

So, what do you do to celebrate culture in your organization? Do you have a fun and exciting way to introduce a culture or do you have a special way to let parents know what to expect when you showcase a new culture? Let me know!

Graphics for this post from

Culture Corner AND Holiday Hoopla - Mid Autumn Moon Festival

The biggest holiday for children in Vietnam is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also celebrated as Children's Day.  The festival takes place at the time of the harvest moon, usually sometime in September or October.  On the day of the festival, the children help their mothers make moon cakes, the special treats enjoyed by everyone on this holiday.  The round cakes are made of sticky rice and filled with nuts, raisins and other fruits.  Often local contests are held to see who can make the tastiest rice cakes.  In the evening, children walk up and down the streets carrying lighted paper lanterns.  Some of the lanterns are round and white like the moon, while others are brightly colored and fashioned into shapes such as fish, dragons, rabbits and boats.  When the children hear the sound of the drums and cymbals, they know it is time for the dragon parades.  Large and small dragons made of paper and cloth are carried through the streets by dancers.  When the parades are over, the dancers celebrated by setting off hundreds of noisy firecrackers.  Later in the evening the children and their families gather under the full moon for songfests.  The lighted lanterns twinkle far into the night as everyone joins in singing favorite folksongs.

Festival Lanterns

Vietnamese children make colored paper lanterns in various shapes for Mid-Autumn Festival.  To achieve a similar effect, let your children make pretend wax paper lanterns.  For each child cut two lantern shapes (or fish or whatever) about 12 inches wide from waxed paper.  Five the children small pieces of different colored tissue paper to glue on their shapes.  When they have finished, staple the edges of each child's shapes together with a handful of lightly crumpled waxed paper scraps inside.  Use a hole punch to make a hole at the top of the lantern and reinforce with holes with gummed reinforcement circles (or put scotch tape on the top and punch a hole through the tape and paper at the same time).  Attach pieces of colored yarn to the lanterns and allow children to hang them in front of a sunny window.

Full Moon

Sung to: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Full moon shining bright,

(Flutters fingers downward.)

Shining in the night.

What a lovely face you have,

(Holding arms in a circle above head.)

Big and round and white.

Fruit Bread Moon Cakes

Let your children help make banana bread or any other bread that contains fruit and nuts.  Bake the bread in well-greased soup or vegetable cans.  Then slice the bread into rounds and let the children spread on fruit flavored cream cheese.

How do you incorporate culture into your program? Have your kids celebrated Mid Autumn Moon Festival? Let me know!