Is Hanukkah or Christmas better? With the holiday season approaching, it’s time to discuss the ultimate winter holiday, obviously Chanukah. Each holiday has its traditions and stories, but only one can come out on top. Christmas is the central holiday celebrated by Christians and is highly popular in advertisements and media, getting the spotlight, while Hanukkah, celebrated in the Jewish community, often gets overshadowed.
Chanukah
In the second century BC, in the ruins of the second temple of the Jews, people were desperate to find pure oil. They had to light the menorah, a nine-pronged candelabra. In the search, they found but one small container of refined oil. They lit the candles, hoping to see more the next day, but to their dismay, they stayed lit for eight nights. Now, we light a candle each night to remember how Hashem (the Jewish god) gave us the miracle of light.
Christmas
In about the fourth century, Pope Julius I deemed December 25 the day to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth. Over the years, the holiday has become an international tradition. Many cultures and backgrounds have contributed to the way Christmas is celebrated. During the time of the American colonies, the holiday was suppressed. It was not widely celebrated, but it came back in the Victorian era and started any common traditions we see today.
Chanukah
Each night of Chanukah, the menorah is lit from left to right with another candle, songs, and prayers are sung around the menorah, and typically, if able, the menorah is placed given the world in a front window or by a front door. On Chanukah, there are different foods to eat as well. It’s a tradition to eat greasy foods to remember the past. We eat latkes: potato pancakes, sufganiyot, a fried jelly donut, and Chanukah gelt (chocolate coins). These foods bring up wholesome memories of a warm house with candles lit and presents being opened. Finally, other Hanukkah traditions include playing with a dreidel, a spinning top with 4 Hebrew letters symbolizing different things, and opening presents. Eight nights of presents are a lot, and each family has their way of doing it, but in my house, we get a present each night, small ones for the first few nights, then medium ones on the last few days, and finally on the last night the big grand present.
Christmas
In early December or late November, the Christmas decorations get pulled out of storage, and lights can be seen on many houses around the neighborhood. Nativity scenes and blowup characters can be seen in some front yards. The night before Christmas is when the real fun starts, the anticipation of presents and the stockings full and leaving cookies and milk out for Santa. On Christmas, my family wakes up early. We all ran from our rooms and plopped down in front of the Christmas tree to open the tons of presents Santa had left us. Every year, the wrapping paper gets everywhere, and there’s lots of yelling about whose presents are whose. The most memorable part is breakfast; afterward, we have cinnamon hot chocolate, bacon, and pancakes. We watch movies in our Christmas pajamas and spend the day together while my aunt cooks the Christmas meal in the kitchen. The smell of turkey and cinnamon fills the air on a warm Christmas day. Everyone celebrates differently, but most people have the tree, the presents, and the stockings, but individual traditions are.
It’s essential to recognize that not everyone celebrates Hanukkah and Christmas similarly. This Is our experience. The holidays aren’t a happy time of year for everyone, and especially now for many Jews celebrating, it is a sad time because of what’s happening in Israel. But both Chanukah and Christmas celebrate light and joy, symbolizing a happy time in our religious history.
