As the Jewish faithful begin the Rosh Hashanah holy days or Jewish New Year Friday at sunset, they will be saying special prayers and lighting special candles.

Beginning Saturday or Sunday, depending on the congregation, the sounding of the shofar - a trumpet made from a ram's horn - will begin. The ritual is symbolic of what the High Holy Days are about: a call for introspection, forgiveness and changing one's course in life, said Rabbi Charles A. Klein of the Merrick Jewish Centre.

It "asks us to wake up, to take a serious look at our lives," he said, "and not just to sleep away our lives." [Newsday]

Usher in the Jewish year 5770 this weekend with Trail of Dead and the Secret Machines. The two bands are on tour together and will play post-sundown shows tonight (9/18) at Webster Hall with Midnight Masses, and Saturday (9/19) at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Freshkills and Sleigh Bells. Neither is sold out at the moment.

Saturday night there is an afterparty at Beauty Bar in Brooklyn.

Actual Roch Hashanah event listed in This Week In Indie.