Chanukah begins tonight at sundown and continues for the next 7 days. because G is jewish, and we have a collection of beautiful menorahs, we celebrate this festival with panache! It is not a biblical holy day, and in the rabbinical tradition is quite a minor holy day. it has become a larger celebration in this country because of its proximity to Christmas, giving jewish children thier own occasion to light candles, receive gifts, sing special songs, enjoy special foods. The food! as the holiday commemorates a miracle involving oil, the food for the holiday also involves things cooked in oil, potato latkes and other rich greasy delights. here is a site that will introduce you to latkes and to some delightful stories about them.
since one of the names for Chanukkah is the Festival of Lights, since it occurs in deep midwinter, since it is so clearly an occasion of renewal and rebirth (they were rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem when they discovered there was only one small vial of oil for the temple lights), since the main ceremony consists of lighting an evergrowing number of candles against the darkness, it is my belief that this is but one more example of the ancient calling-back of the Sun, to light, warm and renew the earth, which we know as Solstice.
5 comments:
i am entering my own comment here: for those of you having trouble saving entries, here is the solution given me by another aol journaler. if you have another brower, netscape or explorer for instance, open it and type in your aol journal URL. then sign in to your account, at the very top of the page on the right hand side, and, if you hold your mouth right, you'll be able to write and save an entry to your journal. it's how i just did this current one.
Hello! I just popped over to say thank you for stopping by my place and having a cup of coffe. I come by you journal fairly often just to see what you are up to. Good stuff here and I appreciate the Jewish lesson. Happy Holidays!
I got a great giggle outta yer comment down there! =D
Thanks for the great links and for sharing your very poetically-expressed reinterpretation of the holidays to Solstice. Wonderful!
Hi - thanks for stopping by my journal! This is a wonderful Hannukah lesson! I too tend to think about calling back the sun. It's so dreary as the days get short and the lighting of the menorah is a beautiful tradition. Hope you and G have a Happy Hannukah.
Kat
I don't know anyone who's Jewish, but I thought there's something so touchingly solemn about Chanukkah. And it's funny how food all over the world seems related. Filipinos have a dish similar to potato latkes, except we make ours with pumpkin or corn.
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