Hanukkah 2021 Begins

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah!  If you're a frequent flier around these parts, you already know that Eliot and I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.  Eliot's family is Jewish and he always celebrated it growing up.  As you already know, I love holidays, and celebrating them, and I've fully embraced Hanukkah in my annual traditions.

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For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) is the Hebrew word for "dedication".  The eight night celebration is also known as the Festival of Lights.  This year, Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown and it ends at sundown on Monday, December 6th.  Since the date is based off of the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah can fall anywhere from late November to December.

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I won't go deep into the history, but the reason the holiday is celebrated for eight days is that there was only enough oil to light the menorah for one day, but the flame burnt for eight full days.  It was considered a miracle and thus, we celebrate eight nights of Hanukkah.  Each night, a candle is lit on the menorah (using the center candle) while a prayer is recited.  The menorah is then traditionally put in the window. 

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There are also other traditions that occur at Hanukkah.  Hanukkah is known for gift giving, although it should not be confused with eight days of Christmas.  Most Jewish families give small gifts each night, and children get one larger gift on the first or last night (depending on each family's traditions).

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Another part of celebrating Hanukkah is playing dreidel with a spinning top and gelt (chocolate coins).  The four sides of a dreidel are the Hebrew letters Nun, Gimel, Hay and Shin.  When put together, it means "a great miracle happened there."  Finally, Hanukkah is also known for foods fried in oil to symbolize the oil used to light the menorah.  My favorites are latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts). 

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As someone who celebrates Hanukkah, I always keep an eye out to for new Hanukkah decor and other items we could use to decorate our house.  This year, I was excited to find more Hanukkah stuff in our local stores, even though it has still been really limited.

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Disney has released a few more Hanukkah items.  Although, they are still using the same design motif as last year (and the year before that) which is disappointing when they create multiple new Christmas holiday designs each year.  However, they are making a bit of progress in their online game.

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This year, Disney got in on wishing everyone a Happy Hanukkah, but they also took the opportunity to post a few longer slides on some of their social media accounts.  On their Pixar Instagram account, they posted how to play dreidel.  (I wish they'd actually make the character dreidels that they had on the slides!)  Then, on their main Disney account, they posted a tutorial on how to make your own Kronk inspired dreidel.  I'd love to make dreidels for a bunch of the characters to use as my Hanukkah decor! 

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So, the eight nights of celebration have begun!  Eliot and I don't have any big plans for it, but we will be lighting our electric menorah each night.  I also have a few fun posts planned on here, so stay tuned for eight crazy days and nights!

Happy Hanukkah!!!  °o°