As the holiday season is well upon us, I’ve been reminiscing on Chanukah’s & Christmas’s past.

Growing up as a Jewish girl in Ireland my family have always celebrated both Chanukah and Christmas which is commonly referred to as Chrismukkah.

Chanukah is the “Festival of Lights”; it starts on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev and lasts for eight days.

A long time ago, in the land of Judea, the Syrian king, Antiochus ordered the Jewish people to reject their G-d, traditions and customs and start to worship the Greek gods. Judah Maccabee and his four brothers refused to give up their faith and set up an army later to be known as The Maccabees. After 3 years of fighting the Maccabees drove the Syrians out of Israel and reclaimed the Temple.

The festival is to celebrate the miracle that the small amount of oil left in the Temple that should have lit the candles for only one day but remarkably lasted for eight days.

Chanukiah

There are a number of traditions for Chanukah however the most well known is the lighting of the Chanukiah.

Different Style Chanukiah

As you can see from both images one candle holder is positioned higher than the others, this is called the Shamash. The Shamash candle is placed first. Then that night’s candles are placed in the Menorah from right to left. The Shamash is also the first candle lit and used to light the night’s candles from left to right. A blessing is made over the candles and we sing Maoz Tzur.

Other traditions including receiving gifts, sometimes one for every day of the festival, Chanukah gelt (money), eating greasy foods such as donuts and latkas (potato cakes).

Growing up I always had Santa come to visit but we never had a Christmas tree or decorated the house. We used to get pillow cases full of goodies instead of stockings Christmas Day was a family meal with turkey (no ham!), crackers and the likes.

Now that I am older and have my own home with my boyfriend Brian we are celebrating Chrismukkah. Although Chanukah came up on us very suddenly this year we weren’t prepared, we do not own a Menorah yet but I hope to pick one up for next year when I’m in Israel with my Mum in January (fingers crossed, if BMI /Lufthansa sort out our flights). We did buy a bag of donuts in M&S yesterday, lol

Our Tree

We have our tree up and looking pretty. This year we will spend Christmas Eve with Brian’s family, I will go to my sister’s for Christmas Day lunch and we will have a Kutner Chrismukkah celebration on the 27th.

Hope you enjoyed this little post as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Mwah