Rosh Hashana is a two-day festival which we honor and enjoy with nice clothing and festive meals. There is a prohibition against certain types of work. We light holiday candles and recite kiddush over wine. We eat sweet apples dipped in honey, in prayer that we merit a good, sweet year. The highlight of the daily prayer service is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn.
The Torah calls Rosh Hashana "a day of shofar blasting" (Numbers 29:1) Our oral tradition teaches that this day marks the anniversary of the creation of the world. It's the day when, every year God "takes stock" of Creation and judges our actions. Thus we call it Rosh Hashana, the "Head" of the Year; since just as the head directs the body, so too God's judgment on Rosh Hashana directs the events of the coming year.
