Chanukah and all that jazz...
I hope you all were able to come join me over at Emily Bryan's blog last Friday. Emily invited me over to share a little of my Chanukah traditions, as well as a recipe. If you didn't get a chance, you can visit here.
A few of the readers followed up with some questions about Chanukah, and I thought I'd take this week's blog to answer them. Please remember that I am NOT the spokeswoman for all things Jewish. Some families have different traditions and beliefs. Everything that follows here is my understanding, and there may be some inaccuracies.
First off, both spellings are correct. You can spell it Chanukah (which is translated from the Hebrew letters used to spell the word) or Hannukkah. I promise, you won't offend me if you use one over the other. My guess is that the second spelling comes more from American traditions, where the "ch" sound is unproducable by over half the country (see The Boy).
Second, despite common misconceptions, Chanukah is a minor holiday. It has become bigger mostly due to the proximity to Christmas. In short, it's the celebration of a miracle that occured after the Maccabee's defeated the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid Empire had desecrated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. After battling, and eventually defeating the Empire, the Maccabees set off to re-consecrate the temple. The oil used to light the lamps was only supposed to last a day, and it last eight. This is why we celebrate Chanukah for 8 nights and 8 days. With that said, it is still considered fairly minor when compared with most of our other Holy Days, such as Rosh Hashanah.
Third, the gifts. This one is very dependent on the family. I do not remember ever receiving one gift a night for 8 nights. I wouldn't have made it that long. If you ask the Boy, he'll vouch for me. I'm horrible at waiting. Heck, if my parents didn't insist, half my presents were opened the week before. Traditionally, small amounts of Chanukah gelt, money, were given to children for Chanukah. Over time this has changed greatly. My opinion is that this tradition has changed due to Christmas and social pressure...but that's just my two cents. Typically my family does small gifts all around, but then again, that's just us.
I hope this gives you a little better idea about Chanukah. Feel free to ask questions, I promise I'll do my best to answer. And if I don't have the answer? Well, I'll try to find it for you.
Labels: holidays
posted by Erin @ 8:49 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks so much, Erin. I didn't know what Chanukah celebrated and as a protestant, my Bible doesn't have the book of Maccabees (though I have heard a little of it. Handel wrote an oratorio called Judas Maccabeas--wonderful music! Knew that music degree would come in handy someday!)
Have a wonderful Chanukah!
Thanks, Erin! You cleared up a lot of my questions.
Happy Chanukah!
Kelli
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