I love to have an excuse to entertain. I just adore setting the table up nicely, decorating the house and preparing food for a special occasion. That is probably why I am so drawn to the Jewish Holidays and their feast. They celebrate a lot! On a weekly basis they celebrate the sabbath (Shabbat) but throughout the year there are a number of Jewish Holidays such as Passover, Tabernacles, First Fruits, Unleavened Bread and Hanukkah.
As a family we have celebrated a couple of Sabbaths with special attention to detail. I don't think I could ever be a Jew though because it was such a momentous occasion that the thought of doing it the next week and then the next was all too much for me. I guess that Jews are brought up with that as part of their life and yet for me it was exhausting! So you can understand me a little when I tell you that I am preparing for Hanukkah NOW! It isn't until the end of the year (Usually November or December) but it last for eight days. Eight days of feast and celebration is going to take a lot of planning........it is bigger than Christmas!
Hanukkah is the celebration of the Jewish defeat against the Greek invaders. After their victory they had to re-build the temple in Jerusalem because it had been defiled by the Greeks who used it as a place of worship to the Greek Gods and had sacrificed unclean animals on the alter. They had to light a candle in the temple but there was only enough "clean" oil to burn for one day. It would take 8 days to produce more oil. Miraculously the oil in the candle burnt for a whole eight days! just long enough for the new oil to be produced. Hannukah is referred to as the festival of light. Scholars believe that Jesus was conceived during the period of Hannukah and the connection between him being called "Jesus.......the light of the world" has spiritual connections to that timing. Interestingly enough, that would take the birth time of Jesus to September which would coincide with the Jewish celebration of The Day Of Atonement.
Anyway, I have been looking on line for a Menorah, The Jewish candle with nine placements. Eight candles are lit for the eight days that the candle in the temple miraculously burned and the ninth...........well, I haven't found that out yet! I was so surprised to find the amount of Menorah sets that are available. Some of them are just beautiful.
The other thing that I am on the lookout for is a dreidel. The dreidel is a spinning top and is used to play a Hannukah game where lollies, money, peanuts...........anything you want! is placed in the middle of the table and the Dreidel is spun. Depending on what letter it lands on dictates what happens. If it lands on one letter the person has to place a coin, lolly etc etc in the middle and then the next person takes a turn, another letter means that the person can take half the lot from the table and yet another letter means they get to take the lot. The winner is the one with the most at the end!
I am looking forward to planning our Hanukkah celebration this year. Has anyone else any plans? do you celebrate the Jewish holidays?