Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, this is not to be confused with the Tabernacle of the Covenant. Its timing in the month of Tishrei allows for a Lunar Eclipse to occur during or very close to this feast. It is a seven day feast where the Israelites remember the forty years that their ancestors spent living in fragile dwellings after their deliverance from Egypt, as they wandered before entering into the Promised Land. This festival is also associated with harvest time and it is also called the Festival of Ingathering. Hence it has dual significance: historical and agricultural.
For 2017, this feast will run from Wednesday Evening, October 4, thru Thursday Evening, October 12.
Leviticus 23:33-36
33 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein. 36 Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and you shall do no servile work therein.
Although Sukkot occurs just five days after Yom Kippur which is a very somber time, this feast changes the atmosphere to one of great joy and rejoicing. To honor the historical significance, temporary booths are erected to dwell in during the seven day period. All meals should be eaten within them, and on a daily basis members of the household recite blessings while holding the following four plants that are joined together : etrog (a citrus fruit native to Israel); lulav (a palm branch); hadas (a branch from a myrtle tree); and, arava (a willow branch).
In general, when celebrating this feast, as much time as possible is spent within these booths, including sleeping within them. The booth would have at least two and a half sides and its roof should be made of something that grew from the ground and then was cut off, such as palm branches. Holes should be left in the covering to allow rain to come in as well as to see the stars.
Deuteronomy 16:16-17
16 Three times a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.
Sukkot ranks in importance along with Passover and Shavuot, for these three feasts, all the males were required to appear before the LORD.
Zechariah 14:16-19
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles will be commemorated by all the inhabitants of the earth during the Millennium Reign of Christ. It is important to note here that drought is considered to be a plague that will affect those that refuse to go up to worship the King during this one thousand year period.