Simchat Torah 5771 begins at sundown tonight and lasts one day.
It means Rejoicing in the Torah, and it marks the end of
the year-long Torah reading cycle and the beginning of the new
cycle of reading the Torah back in Genesis / Breishit.
You may remember this holiday from growing up, this is the one
with the flags and the apples and all the marching around
with all the torah scrolls (marching is called Hakafot).
This is a full-festival day (restrictions similar to Shabbat).
In Israel, Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret are the same day.
In American Reform Judaism, they are sometimes observed the same day.
For more, see: http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday6.htm
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