Happy Hannukah!

Happy Hannukah to all!

Fun Facts:

1. This year Christmas fell on the same day as the first day of Hannukah

2. Hannukah is not Jewish Christmas

3. The candelabra used during Hannukah is called a hannukia, not a menorah. The menorah is what they hang in a synagogue and generally refers to any candelabra. They typically have different numbers of candles

4. Jewish immigrants who came to the US during the existence of the USSR also celebrate New Year in the exact way as Christmas, with all the same trappings minus religious ones. So our kids will, for all their lives, be completely confused about what the hell we actually celebrate and will confuse their friends and neighbors.

Happy Hanukkah to you too!

Did Jewish immigrants bring the same traditions for New Year as those used for Christmas with them, or did they adopt the Christmas decorations for the New Year holiday?

sheared wrote:

Happy Hanukkah to you too!

Did Jewish immigrants bring the same traditions for New Year as those used for Christmas with them, or did they adopt the Christmas decorations for the New Year holiday?

So, there's a tree with decorations and ornaments, a little statue of Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snow Girl), gifts under the tree, but no Christ or any of the Christian references. And of course all this is on Dec 31st.

What happened was that when the Bolsheviks came to power they eliminated religious practice, any and all, as communism is generally supposed to be atheistic. But to give people something to celebrate they moved the Christmas celebration to New Year Eve, with all the trappings. Jews, in an attempt to assimilate and blend in, adopted this practice and celebrate New Year's Eve as everyone else in the USSR, while also keeping all the Jewish traditions and holy days (secretly of course). When they moved to the US, they brought all of this with them.

It's fun explaining to my neighbors that we do celebrate Hannukah but also we have that decorated tree.

IMAGE(http://www.imagesbuddy.com/images/117/2013/12/put-the-han-back-in-hanukkah-graphic.jpeg)

Happy Hanukkah!