Public sukkah in Midtown Manhattan. / Chabad of Midtown

Sukkot is almost here, which means it’s time to get your sukkah ready! The sukkah is the outdoor hut that becomes our home for the week of the holiday, and its most important feature is the sechach, the plant-based covering that forms the roof.

You might have seen bamboo mats, evergreen branches, or palm fronds on top of a sukkah, but those are far from the only options. Over the centuries, Jews have used many other materials for sechach, often choosing whichever suitable plants grew nearby. Let’s take a tour through time and place to discover 11 materials Jews have used for sechach, from Biblical days all the way to the present.

1. Biblical Times: Harvest Leftovers
What did people use for sechach back in the days of Joshua, Samuel, and King David? The Torah gives us a hint: “Celebrate a holiday of booths (Sukkot) for seven days, when you gather the produce from your threshing floor and wine press.”1 This verse can be understood to mean that the leftover branches from grapevines and the stubble left behind after cutting grain are perfect candidates.2 That’s because they meet the three basic requirements of sechach:

It must be made of plant material.
It has to be detached from the ground.
It can’t be something that can become ritually impure.
Read: Sukkology 101

2. Ezra and Nehemiah: Olive, Pine, and Myrtle Branches
Fast forward to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Book of Nehemiah records one of the first Sukkot celebrations of the Second Temple period. The Jews went up into the mountains and brought back “olive branches, branches of the oil tree [identified by some as the Jerusalem pine],3 myrtle branches, palm branches, and hadas branches.”4

The palm (lulav) and hadas were for the Four Species, but the olive, pine, and myrtle5 were used for—you guessed it—sechach.6

Read: 13 Facts About the Four Species

3. Temperate Regions: Evergreen Branches
The sukkah at the East River Esplanade at East 84th Street (Photo: Howard Blas)
The sukkah at the East River Esplanade at East 84th Street (Photo: Howard Blas)
One of the most popular choices today for sechach is evergreen (conifer) branches. While many other trees drop their leaves quickly, evergreens keep (most of) their greenery in place. (Aside from the practical advantage, sechach that will not last for seven days is unfit from day one.7)

Western cedar branches are especially popular. Pines and firs, while usable, tend to shed needles into your soup—a less-than-ideal scenario for holiday meals.

Fun fact: The Hebrew word for tree, אילן (ilan), has the same numerical value as סוכה (sukkah)—both add up to 91!8

Read: 8 of the World’s Most Interesting Sukkahs

4. Modern Times: Bamboo Poles and Mats
Unrolling a bamboo covering over the sukkah
Unrolling a bamboo covering over the sukkah
In recent decades, bamboo has become a go-to option. You can lay down bamboo poles one by one, or roll out a bamboo mat for quick coverage. But be careful: due to various halachic considerations, not every bamboo mat is automatically kosher for sechach. Make sure yours comes with a reliable hechsher (rabbinical certification).

Bonus: Bamboo poles and mats are durable, so if you store them carefully, you can use them year after year.

5. Thin Slats (Lath)
Wide wooden planks are not allowed for sechach, since they look too much like regular roofing.9 Even thin slats are not ideal, but they were once pretty common, since lath was a widely available and inexpensive building material before being rendered obsolete by the advent of drywall. In fact, in Montreal (the author’s hometown), some residents still cover their sukkahs this way. (If this option interests you, discuss the details with your rabbi first, especially since there are plenty of other options on the market today.)

6. Cornstalks
In the Midwest, cornstalks are often used for sechach. They’re tall, plentiful, and dry out nicely—making them a practical choice.

7. The Mediterranean: Palm Fronds

For Jews living in the Land of Israel and throughout the Mediterranean, palm fronds were the obvious choice.10 They continue to remain popular today in places like Los Angeles and Australia, where there are plenty of palm trees to go around.

The Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad) records that in his native Baghdad, palm fronds were the standard sechach—not only because they were handy, but also because they invoke the verse,11 “The righteous one flourishes like a palm.”12

8. Tunis: Myrtle Branches
Myrtle branches.
Myrtle branches.
In old Tunis, Jews traditionally covered their sukkahs with myrtle branches. Local Arab villagers would harvest them and sell bundles right before the holiday.

One year, the sellers decided to hike the prices outrageously, knowing that Jews can’t celebrate Sukkot without sechach. Thanks to the intervention of Rabbi Yeshuah Basis, a saintly rabbi known for his miracles, the situation was resolved—but that’s a story for another time.13

9. Argentina: Eucalyptus
A Eucalyptus-covered sukkah in Argentina.
A Eucalyptus-covered sukkah in Argentina.
In Argentina, many Jews use eucalyptus branches for s’chach, enjoying their fragrant scent as they eat their Sukkot meals.

10. Yemen: Matzah Wheat Stalks
In Yemen, people used whatever plants were on hand, but some Jews had a special custom. The month of Tishrei was the time when wheat for Passover matzah was harvested. They would use the kernels for flour—but the empty stalks? Those were saved for the sukkah (typically a corner in the house with a removable roof).14

Read: 18 Facts About Yemenite Jews

11. Bukhara: Willow Branches
A sukkah in Bukhara, c.1900. – Yosef and Margit Hoffman Judaica postcard collection, Folklore Research Center, Mendel Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University.
A sukkah in Bukhara, c.1900.
Yosef and Margit Hoffman Judaica postcard collection, Folklore Research Center, Mendel Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University.
We’ve seen that palm fronds and myrtle branches have traditionally been used for sechach. What about the other two of the Four Species? While etrogs aren’t an option, in Bukhara, Jews often used willow branches for their sukkah covering. They didn’t stop there, though—they would also make wreaths of willow branches and wildflowers to decorate their sukkah doors.15