Holidays
Three Pilgrimage Festivals
The three pilgrimage festivals, Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot celebrate the times that the Jews made pilgrimages to Jerusalem in times of the Holy Temples to offer sacrifices there.
High Holy Days
This refers to Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
On Rosh Hashanah, the holiday is spent mainly in the synagogue, praying for a good New Year. The prayers are accompanied by periodical blowing of the shofar. It is customary to eat an apple dipped in honey, to symbolize a sweet year.
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, is spent fasting and praying from sundown of Erev Yom Kippur, to after sundown on Yom Kippur itself.
Other holidays include Hanukah, the festival of lights, and Purim which celebrates the deliverance of the Persian Jews from annihilation by the evil Haman.