The custom of reciting Selichot

Selichot is a custom that the Jewish people began to practice during the Geonic period, more than a thousand years ago * By the end of the Rishonim period, the custom was established in Sephardic communities to recite Selichot throughout the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance * In Ashkenaz, the custom is to start reciting Selichot on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.