What does John 7:1 mean?

As with the first verse of chapter 6, chapter 7 opens with something of an understatement. The time gap between the end of chapter 5 and the start of chapter 6 was about six months. Here there is a similar leap: from the time of Passover to the Feast of Booths (John 7:2). This puts the events of the next few chapters around six months prior to Jesus' eventual crucifixion.

The gospel of John presents Jesus as a man always obedient to God's timeline. Conflict with the religious leaders of Jerusalem is inevitable, and so Jesus spends much of His time in Galilee, away from their direct influence. This only delays the eventual outcome, of course. Jesus has already done enough to earn a death sentence in their eyes, since they interpret His earlier actions as a form of blasphemy (John 5:18). This desire to see Jesus killed will be greatly increased due to His actions during the Feast of Booths.

As is usually the case in the gospel of John, the term "the Jews" is a reference to the religious leaders of Jerusalem and their supporters. This is an important distinction when interpreting the reactions of the crowd to Jesus' words. "The Jews," as described here, are a somewhat separate group from "the people."