Why chanukah is better than christmas

They share several similarities like decorating houses and streets with lights, exchanging gifts, and indulging in seasonal delicacies. However, they are also quite pronouncedly different from one another,. While Hanukkah is exclusively celebrated by the Jewish community across the world, Christmas remains a celebration primarily among Christians. The origin of each holiday is also quite different. Christmas is invariably celebrated on the 25 th of December every year, with celebrations lasting for a day.

Hanukkah is celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar and hence, the date of its celebration varies each year. The celebrations for Hanukkah are primarily centered on the lighting of the eight ceremonial candles on the eight nights of the festival. Christmas is centered around attending the specially curated Christmas vigil at the church. The symbols of each festival are also starkly different. Even when people are generally speaking of the two holidays, Christmas trees and nativities are associated with Christmas while a menorah and dreidel are associated with Hanukkah.

Despite the many differences between the two holidays Christmas and Hanukkah, they also have quite a few things in common. Many people think the two holidays are related because they both occur in the winter and commonly both in December.

If you think of either holiday, the family is a big part of each celebration, Christmas and Hanukkah prioritize time with family during the holidays. Today gifts are also a big part of both holidays as it is now a tradition to exchange gifts during Christmas and Hanukkah.

The holiday spirit of giving is present for both the Jews celebrating Hanukkah and for Christians celebrating Christmas. Giving of time and money around the holiday season are valued by both holidays. It is a big deal around Christmas time for those celebrating Christmas to put up lights on your tree, around and on your house, Hanukkah is also called the festival of lights and value lights as well. Looking at the way Christians celebrate and Jews celebrate can highlight the differences, but there are also many similarities involved as well.

Big delicious meals are involved that you get to eat with the family. The exact food may be different but they both include delicious foods. Changes occur all the time, and we can see this a lot with holidays as the world also changes around us.

Christmas for example has changed a lot throughout the years, and now many people who celebrate Christmas do not do it for the birth of Christ but the giving of gifts and the getting together of family.

Hanukkah remains a very Jewish holiday, but because of the wide-spread celebration of Christmas, sometimes those who celebrate Hanukkah also enjoy some of the Christmas festivities. There are also Christians today who also celebrate Hanukkah, and for the same reason as Jews.

I get such nachas when we do the first night lighting of the candles and my husband belts out the Maot Tzur Yashoati!! I will be in touch later today! There are plenty more competitions coming up! And you get a preview of the spiel and can add to it too!

With Chanukah, it is very fitting that I have 5 gorgeous scented candles to give away! Marshmallow and even coconut scented candles have been kindly sponsored by Rose and Grace , the ultimate luxury gift company. Aww so glad Sue!

Always love reading your comments!!! Thanks for reading my spiel, see you next week! Well put JM! Chanuka starts on the dot and finishes on the dot!!! Ours goes on and on and……. Wow Ken, you are a funny one indeed!!! Not a cheap holiday by any means!!! Great article — as always. Hey does anyone know where you can buy frozen latkus? I heard that they no longer do them frozen or is that just a Chanukah myth!!! We are planning a Chanukah tea and really enjoy the small frozen bite size latkus — help………..

Not so sure about Yom Kippur being less expensive. I feel like comparing the two will leave one losing. Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. If you compare them this way, the former will get decimated like our First and Second Temples. Look, just like the small army of Maccabees fighting the overpowering Hellenist culture, I am all for Jews trying to prop up Hanukkah.

I love that Spotify dropped a Hanukkah playlist , that Star Wars fans have a Medley , that Disney got its first Jewish princess in time for Hanukkah, and that Hallmark, however misguided , tried to include Hanukkah in its God-awful Christmas lineup. Passover, the little-known Shavuot Pentacost and Sukkot Tabernacles are technically the three major holidays, the ones where Jews in ancient times had to trek all the way to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate.

And let's not forget Purim, "The Jewish Halloween.