The holiday season has something for everybody, no matter his or her religion. If you are Christian you would celebrate the birth of Jesus. If you are Jewish, you would celebrate Hannukah for eight nights. Growing up in a Jewish household, I learned to love the celebration of Hannukah.
My favorite holiday, Hannukah, celebrates a Jewish miracle. After the Maccabees defeated the Greeks in 168 B.C.E, they returned to their temple in Jerusalem. When the Maccabees arrived, they only found enough oil to last one day. They lit the menorah anyway, and to their surprise, the small amount of oil lasted eight full days, which is why Hannukah lasts eight days. In Hebrew, the word ‘Hannukah’ means ‘dedication’. Hanukkah falls on the twenty-fifth day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Since the Jewish calendar is lunar based, every year the first day of Hanukkah falls on a different day.
My family follows the traditions of Hannukah. Each night of the holiday, we all gather in front of the menorah, light the candles and say a prayer. Then we sit down for a nice, big meal. Our Hannukah meal consists of potato latkes and jelly doughnuts. After we finish eating we play a long game of dreidel, with gelt. Gelt is chocolate that looks like gold coins. The dreidel has four sides, and each side has a symbol. Depending which side your dreidel lands on, depends on how much gelt you will receive. When my family and I finish our exciting game of dreidel, we open presents.
My favorite part of Hannukah is the presents because it makes me feel good to give back to my family. I love to go shopping, so I always have an amazing gift to give to my parents. This is just one of the many reasons why I love the holiday season.
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