Author: Jana

Kwanzaa is a holiday of African heritage and lasts seven days. Similar to Festivus it also originated in the 1960s, but was created by Maulana Karenga. Kwanzaa is a holiday that celebrates African culture with a feast and the giving of gifts. It also has seven principles that are celebrated each night from December 26th until January 1st. These principle are as follows: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Like Hanukkah, part of the holiday centers around lighting candles. With Kwanzaa seven candles are lit, one for each night. The candelabra for this festival can vary greatly however, and does not have the same sort of consistency that is found with a Menorah.

The season of Advent prepares the way for the season of Christmas in the Christian year. Often on the eve of Christmas a white candle is lit within the center of the Advent wreath to symbolize the light of Jesus entering the world. In the same way that the shepherds and wise men came to visit Jesus (the wise men bearing gifts) people often give gifts on Christmas. It is from this idea of gift giving that Santa Claus comes, although Santa Claus is often seen as based off of the personas of Father Christmas and Saint Nicolas. Nikolaos of Myra was a saint that was known to sneak gifts into shoes, particularly those of children. Father Christmas, on the other hand, was a persona who became known as a cheery fellow incorporating all the celebratory-ness of Jesus’ birth in more modern times; although as Father Christmas in the U.K. he is sometimes depicted as being dressed in green.  Another common aspect of Christmas is the decorating of a Christmas tree, which is believed to have originated in Germany perhaps from the German pagan holiday of Yule/Christmastide before being incorporated into the religious holiday of Christmas. Other traditions include the lighting of candles, having a dinner feast of turkey or ham, and hanging stockings and other preparations for Santa Claus. In more recent years, this holiday, particularly the Santa Claus aspect has become increasingly popularized and commercialized.

“A Festivus for the rest of us” is the slogan that has become popular with regard to this holiday. Although the holiday gained popularity when it was incorporated into an episode of Seinfeld in 1997,  it was invented in the 1960s by the family of Seinfeld’s script writer Daniel O’Keefe. Festivus is typically viewed as an anti-consumerism and secular holiday. The holiday generally consists of three aspects: the Festivus pole (adorned with just lights), a dinner, and grieving the past year. Two other aspects that were included in the Seinfeld version also include the feat of strength (a wrestling match) and the listing of Festivus miracles. For further information for the holiday I recommend reading Dan O’Keefe’s “The Real Festivus”.

This past Sunday we lit the fourth candle of Advent, the candle of love. Coincidentally, this year the fourth Sunday of Advent landed on the brink of the Winter Solstice, or the darkest night of the year. In the gospel of John it is written “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” On this dark night while I walked down the street with a mild fog absorbing the light being emitted from the street lamps, I was
reminded of this verse. The verse seemed particularly appropriate given the day of the year. It also crossed my mind that with lighting the fourth candle our advent wreath, it is becoming quite bright with all the light, and light drives out physical darkness, while love drives out the darkness of the soul. With a personally difficult Autumn, I have also noted that love and light are things that are often given to us, perhaps in the same way that Mary and Joseph found a place to spend a night when there was no place for them to stay. As the days begin to lengthen and things can only get brighter from here, I would encourage you to find light and love within yourself to enlighten the world around in which we all live.

“We light these lights for the miracles and the wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made for our forefathers, in those days at this season, through your holy priests. During all eight days of Hanukkah these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them except for to look at them in order to express thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, Your wonders and Your salvations.”

(Prayers for the Lights, translated from Hebrew)

At the outset I feel like I should make the note that I am not Jewish, but have been drawn to some aspects of Judaism, which has led me to study Judaism and Biblical Hebrew. I have contemplated various ways of discussing Hanukkah and my conclusion is to explore eight different aspects of the holiday, one for each night. The eight are: the menorah, latkes, dreidels, fried foods, the history (the Maccabees), Hanukkah in modern times, gelt and the green Hanukkah movement.

The Menorah is the candelabra with nine holders used to celebrate hanukkah. The fact that the menorah has nine holders, when Hanukkah is celebrated for eight nights, I used to find quite puzzling. There are nine holders (eight at one level, and the other at a different level). Usually, this is so that there is a lighter candle, from which to light the others (this can differ depending on the branch of Judaism). Thus, the first night two candles are lit: the one that is at a different level from the rest, from which the subsequent candles are lit. Thus light is brought into a season of darkness.

Latkes are typically fried cakes made from grated potatoes, which are consumed during Hanukkah. For those who may be considering making some type of latkes over the holiday season I would recommend this website: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/altkes?bffb#.qnmPLL8XY
At this time food staples are turned into something nurturing, and delicious.

The dreidel is a type of square wooden top that is used to play a game. The dreidel has four sides which are marked with Hebrew letters; nun, gimel, hey, and shin. Each players starts off with the same number of tokens, pennies, etc. and each takes a turn spinning the dreidel. A ‘nun’ means nothing and so play moves onto the next player, ‘gimel’ the player takes the whole pot, ‘hey’ the player takes half the pot, and for ‘shin’ the player puts one in the pot. Play continues until nothing remains in the pot. There are various versions of playing, but the type listed above tends to be the most common. The game comes from the Ashkenazi tradition, and brings fun and celebration, particularly for children.

I have already mentioned the making of latkes for Hanukkah, but it is also customary to eat any type of fried foods such as breads, donuts, pastries and a whole other host of treats. Hanukkah is after all a celebration, and what is a celebration without treats?

The history of Hanukkah dates back to the rededication of the temple after the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BCE, when the Maccabees regained the temple from the soldiers of Antiochus Epiphanes the Fourth. Upon reclamation of the temple it was discovered that there was only enough oil for one day, but the oil burned for eight days by which time more oil could be made and consecrated. A time of limited resources becomes a bounty of abundance.

Hanukkah, while celebrated in the Jewish community and in synagogues, did not become popular until the 1970s when Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, an Orthodox Rabbi encouraged the lighting of public Menorahs. The White House publicly lit it’s first Menorah in 1979 with then president Jimmy Carter on the White House lawn, a tradition that in a varied form continues today. Hanukkah, like many religious traditions, is about family and community.

Gelt, or money in the form of coins, were traditionally given by students to their teachers during hanukkah. However, during modern times the giving of gelt is often from friends and family to children. More popularly small chocolates covered in foil have been made to resemble gelt and are often given during Hanukkah instead of money. Small tokens symbolize ongoing prosperity.

Finally, something that peaked my interest is the more recent movement called Green Hanukkah. As part of Hanukkah celebrations focuses on oil for the lamps/candles, this movement considers our dependency on oil and fossil fuels and encourages action. One example by the The Shalom Center can be found at: https://theshalomcenter.org/node/1315
In the same way that traditions pass from generation to generation, so too does the Earth.