In a new series of blogs, we’re asking CBeebies grown-ups to share with us their family celebrations. First up, Jane and Keith, who have five year old twins and an older son, tell usabout their celebration of the Jewish festival of Chanukah (Hanukkah)...
Can you explain a little bit about what Chanukah is, and when it falls this year?
Keith:
The festival of Chanukah lasts for eight nights. A Jewish day begins at nightfall on the previous evening, so this year Chanukah begins at nightfall on Tuesday 16th December (the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev). Candles are lit every night until the last ones on 23rd December, and the festival ends at dusk on the 24th.
Chanukah celebrates the story of Judah Maccabee and his brothers, who, over 2000 years ago, restored their Temple in Jerusalem after it had been taken over by the Syrian Greeks.
When the Maccabees arrived in the Temple, they could only find enough oil to keep the everlasting light lit for a single day. Knowing that it would take eight days to pick and press pure new olive oil, they lit the lamp from the final pure flask, and to their surprise it lasted for the whole 8 days – that’s why we light candles each night during Chanukah, and traditionally eat fried foods like doughnuts and potato latkes (similar to hash browns) to represent the miracle of the oil.
One of the obligations during Chanukah is to publicise the festival, so the Chanukiah (candelabra) is usually put on the window ledge so that it’s visible from the street.
How does your family usually celebrate?
We light candles every night for the eight nights, one on the first night, two on the second, so that on the last night all the candles are lit. When Keith and I were growing up, there was only one family Chanukiah (candelabra), but now everyone seems to have their own, so you can easily be lighting a dozen during the singing. One year, when we were on holiday in Jerusalem, there was communal table provided outside the dining room with families saying prayers together and there must have been 50 or more lit Chanukiahs.
Chanukah is a home-based festival, and we try to celebrate with as many friends and family as possible. The candles are lit soon after nightfall, which means before 5pm, so luckily there are no issues regarding late nights for small children!
Our children are given 8 small presents, one for each night. These are usually things like a rubber ball, a ruler or new pyjamas. When they were very young our children would sometimes get just a box of raisins as a token to mark the occasion.
The twins (aged 5) are particularly looking forward to the chocolate money and of course their presents – eight each from Grandma is always a favourite and a surprise every day – it is her year-long activity to purchase suitable items for 5 of her grandchildren.
Chanukah is also a time to think of others less fortunate than ourselves so we always encourage the children to give some of their toys away to other children. At school a charity called Camp Simchah will be coming in and talking to them and they’ll arrange a collection of toys to be given out over Chanukah to children with life limiting illnesses.
What do your children enjoy doing or making during the festival?
They all love seeing their cousins – it’s a real annual gathering of family, and sometimes the older ones will all do a show or sing songs for us all to enjoy.
Making potato latkes can be quite time consuming, but there are tasks that our little ones can help with. Making chanukiahs (candelabra) is also great fun for young children – get some clay and help them to shape it into a suitable shape, use a spoon handle or similar to make the nine holes for the candles, then paint them. Some of our homemade ones are still in use today, and it’s a lovely activity to do if you can bear the mess!
We also play games like spinning the dreidel (spinning top) – because bible study was forbidden in the days of Judah Maccabee, Jews would hide the Torah (bible) scroll when they heard the Greeks coming and pretend to be playing with these spinning tops.
What are you most looking forward to about celebrating with your children this year?
The youngest two are at Reception so they can now understand the story and sing the songs, which will make their school Chanukah concert a real treat. It’s lovely seeing how they enjoy it more now they are older and can understand it more, as well as seeing what they have learnt at school in terms of the story and the songs. They’re singing the songs they’ve been learning constantly as the day of their school Chanukah play approaches!
Apart from that, it’s all about being together with friends and family, and as it coincides with the holidays we have been invited to friends’ homes on some nights which will be lovely.
This is first in a new series of blogs from families about how they celebrate different festivals - if you'd like to share your story with us, we'd love to hear from you :)
BBC Food: Potato latke recipe
BBC Religion: Find out more about Chanukah/Hanukkah
