Sukkot

Palm branch, citron, willow, myrtle.

It's a Jewish holiday celebrated all over the world.

We dwell in Sukkot (foliage-covered booths), and have festive meals there.

We say special prayers, including prayers for rain.

We wave the four species, to symbolize the upcoming rainy season (palm branch, citron, willow, myrtle).

On the last day, we complete the yearly cycle of reading the whole Torah, and we dance with the Torah-scrolls.

Sukkot is commanded in the Torah (Leviticus ch.23). It commemorates the protection which God gave us in the wilderness, and it gives thanks for the annual ingathering of grain. It also marks the beginning of mentioning the rainy season in our prayers.

The sukkah reminds us of God's protection in the wilderness immediately after the exodus from Egypt. The sukkah's vegetation-canopy symbolizes the Clouds of Glory in the wilderness.

The first day. (The eighth day, which is equally important, is actually not part of Sukkot.)

Sukkot means either booths or tabernacles.

It's also the name of a holiday in which Jews build a Sukkah (sukkot is plural) ... and depending on your tradition --eat, sit, and/or sleep inside it.

It helps to know the level of Jewish observance of your hosts. Fresh fruit is inherently koshere. A bottle of kosher wine (unopened) is safe. Liquor has a place in the tradition. Prepared foods become problematic if the guest does not routinely keep kosher. It is never impolite to ask what you should bring.

According to RAMBAM : Hilchot Sukkah Chapter 4, Section 6. You can go into a Sukkah built on a wagon or a ship even on Yom Tov.

During the holiday of Succot, Jews are commanded to wave the lulav (bundle of a palm frond with willow and myrtle branches, together with an etrog, a kind of primitive lemon). Some Jews do this in the succah. But the big activities in the succah are not symbolic, they are real. The commandment is to "settle in the succah" which is to say, to live there. Jews who build succot frequently eat their meals in the succah (weather permitting) and some sleep there. I suppose you could take it as symbolic when someone goes into the succah, sits down, says the blessing and eats a chunk of bread and then immediately goes back inside to finish the meal.

Other than the problem of a fire hazard, yes, though it's highly unusual.

During Hol Hamoed (the intermediate days of Sukkot), there are no restrictions for handling fire (other than what was said above). On Yom Tov, however, fire may be transferred but not kindled. Yom Tov is the first and last days of the festival.

Sukkot is a harvest holiday and is relatively similar to Thanksgiving in the USA (aside from all of the ritual Jewish elements - such as building the the succah and shaking the lulav and etrog.)

It begins on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which occurs in September or October.