{"id":1652,"date":"2023-12-06T15:16:32","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/?p=1652"},"modified":"2023-12-07T00:00:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T04:00:42","slug":"hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Candles on a large Hanukkah menorah shine in front of a Christmas tree at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in 2015.
\n
Gregor Fischer\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/head>
By Samira Mehta<\/a> of University of Colorado Boulder<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles and op-eds<\/a> in newspapers<\/a> remind readers of that fact every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.<\/p>\n
These pieces exist for a reason. Hanukkah is a minor festival in the Jewish liturgical year, whose major holidays come in the fall and spring \u2013 the High Holidays<\/a> and Passover<\/a>, respectively. Because of its proximity to Christmas, however, Hanukkah has been culturally elevated into a major celebration.<\/p>\n
American shops and schools nod to diversity by putting up menorahs next to Christmas trees or including the dreidel song<\/a> in the \u201choliday concert\u201d alongside Santa, Rudolph or the Christ child. Even Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement<\/a>, holds public menorah lightings that look remarkably like public Christmas tree lightings.<\/p>\n
Store windows, doctors\u2019 offices and college dining halls display Christmas trees and menorahs side by side, though the latter is a ritual object<\/a>, not merely a decoration. A menorah, or \u201chanukkiah,\u201d is lit in a specific way, on specific days, with accompanying prayers \u2013 more akin to a Christian<\/a> Advent wreath<\/a> than to the holly decking the halls.<\/p>\n
Much of my Jewish studies and gender research<\/a> focuses on interfaith families<\/a>, for whom these issues can be especially tricky. I empathize with Jewish Americans worried about Hanukkah growing too similar to Christmas \u2013 but the history of both holidays is more complicated than these comparisons let on.<\/p>\n
<\/a>
The four sons of a Jewish family in Brookline, Mass., light the first candle of their menorah during Hanukkah in 1971.<\/span>*
*\nSpencer Grant\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAncient revolt<\/h2>\n***
**
***There\u2019s a deep irony, of course, in seeing Hanukkah as a prime example of assimilation: The festival itself celebrates a victory against assimilation.<\/p>\n
In 168 B.C.E., Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of the Seleucid Empire, sent his army to conquer Jerusalem. He outlawed Jewish holidays<\/a>, Shabbat observance and practices such as circumcision. His troops set up altars to the Greek gods in the Jewish temple, dedicating it to Zeus.<\/p>\n
The Maccabees, a Jewish resistance movement led by a priestly family, opposed both Antiochus and Jews who assimilated to the conquering Greek culture. Hanukkah celebrates the rebels\u2019 victory over the Seleucid army.<\/p>\n
In the temple, the Jews kept an eternal flame burning \u2013 as synagogues do today<\/a>. When the Maccabees reclaimed the temple, however, there was enough oil to last for only a day. Miraculously, the story says it lasted for a week: enough time to bring in more oil.<\/p>\n
Traditional holiday celebrations, therefore, include lighting the menorah each night for eight days and eating food cooked in oil<\/a>. Spinning dreidel<\/a> games are also traditional, as are songs like \u201cMaoz Tzur<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>
Latkes \u2013 fried potato pancakes \u2013 are one of the most popular Hanukkah foods in the U.S., usually served with applesauce or sour cream.<\/span>***
***\nLisa J Goodman\/Moment Mobile via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cHanukkah bushes<\/a>\u201d topped with a Star of David, extravagant presents, community menorah lightings in the park, blue and white lights on houses and Hanukkah Advent calendars<\/a>? Not traditional, if \u201ctraditional\u201d means things that have happened for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n
Carols and carousing<\/h2>\n*****
**
*****Assimilation to the United States\u2019 Christian-majority culture has played a role in Hanukkah\u2019s modern transformation. That said, the story of how Hanukkah came to have the commercial, kids-and-gifts focus that it has in the U.S. today is a bit more complicated.<\/p>\n
When people worry that Hanukkah is simply a Jewish adaptation to the Christmas gift season, I think they are imagining that Christmas itself has always been as most Americans today know it \u2013 with the presents, the tree and the family togetherness. But, in fact, both contemporary Christmas and contemporary Hanukkah grew up together<\/a> in response to the Industrial Revolution.<\/p>\n
Before the Industrial Revolution, both Europe and North America were primarily agrarian societies. When the harvest was completed, the entire Advent season took on an air of revelry \u2013 there was caroling in the streets and a certain amount of drunken carousing. For the more wealthy, it was a season of parties and balls. Sometimes, there would be class-based conflict<\/a> \u2013 like vandalism or other crimes \u2013 between the wealthy partygoers and the working-class street parties.<\/p>\n
<\/a>
A 19th century Christmas celebrations in London \u2013 not exactly puritanical.<\/span>*****
*****\nHulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n*****
**
*****The highlight of the season was New Year\u2019s rather than Christmas. Gifts, if any, were small and usually handmade. The wealthy gave end-of-the-year bonuses to servants and tradespeople. All in all, the season was as much about friends as family, and celebrated in public as much or more than in private.<\/p>\n
For a variety of reasons, social campaigners in the early 19th century looked to make Christmas into the domestic celebration of consumption<\/a> that we have today. The shift from seasonal farm work to round-the-clock factory work made the evenings of carousing problematic, for example \u2013 hungover workers are not good workers \u2013 and moving the celebration to a single day solved that problem. Meanwhile, religious voices tried to emphasize Christmas as a celebration of Christ in Christian homes.<\/p>\n
But more to the point, the Industrial Revolution created a huge market of relatively affordable goods that needed a market. Christmas provided an abundant market. And so did Hanukkah.<\/p>\n
New needs, new traditions<\/h2>\n
Jews received the same advertisements for gifts and festive foods as their Christian neighbors, and it was hard to resist the pull of the celebratory season. However, the late American studies scholar Dianne Ashton\u2019s<\/a> book \u201cHanukkah in America: A History<\/a>\u201d suggests that Hanukkah did not take its current form only because American Jews were imitating Christmas in some sort of religious version of keeping up with the Joneses.<\/p>\n
Hanukkah, which is celebrated mostly in the home, gave Jewish women a place to shine \u2013 much like a domestic Christmas gave such opportunities to Christian women. It allowed Jews to focus on the family bonds, which often felt fragile and precious<\/a> in the shadow of immigration and relatives left behind.<\/p>\n
<\/a>
A rabbi teaches preschoolers how to light a Hanukkah menorah in November 2018 in Washington, D.C.<\/span>*******
*******\nAlex Wong\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
And focusing on children<\/a>, such as by having them light the candles \u2013 a job traditionally done by adult men \u2013 offered a way to engage the next generation in a time and place where being Jewish felt like a choice.<\/p>\n
In America, Jews were full citizens, free from the laws that had previously kept their communities isolated in many parts of Europe. That freedom also made it easier for each individual to choose how much to engage with Jewish community, if at all. In America, you could leave your Judaism behind without converting to Christianity \u2013 and many Jews did<\/a>. Hanukkah was a fun way to build attachments to the holiday.<\/p>\n
American Jews adapted Hanukkah to their own needs, emphasizing aspects of the religion that made it work in this new environment. One can see that as assimilation, sure, but it was also adaptation for survival. Joining in the \u201choliday season\u201d did mitigate the feeling of being an outsider, and a minority, at the holidays. But it also allowed for the creation of a new way of engaging Judaism in a new space and time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a>, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Assimilation no doubt played a role in making Hanukkah the commercialized holiday it is today. But other factors shaped the modern festival, too, a scholar of Jewish studies and gender explains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4361,"featured_media":1655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,14],"tags":[422,118,380,425],"class_list":["post-1652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judaism","category-religion-and-society","tag-christmas","tag-hanukkah","tag-jewish","tag-seasonal-holidays"],"yoast_head":"\nHanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles remind readers every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-\u2212-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles remind readers every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-\u2212-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Conversation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-06T19:16:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T04:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1321\/2023\/12\/file-20231202-25-d6v2he.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Conversation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Conversation\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-06T19:16:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-07T04:00:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#\/schema\/person\/d7ef49f6b4e3d94d0e200fbe8ed6bda7\"},\"description\":\"Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles remind readers every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/\",\"name\":\"The Conversation\",\"description\":\"The Conversation is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to helping academic experts share their knowledge with a broad public audience.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#\/schema\/person\/d7ef49f6b4e3d94d0e200fbe8ed6bda7\",\"name\":\"The Conversation\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09532643009bd1c1a5988a87e8d2915c?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09532643009bd1c1a5988a87e8d2915c?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"The Conversation\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/author\/conversation\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas","description":"Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles remind readers every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-\u2212-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas","og_description":"Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles remind readers every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-\u2212-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/","og_site_name":"The Conversation","article_published_time":"2023-12-06T19:16:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-07T04:00:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1281,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1321\/2023\/12\/file-20231202-25-d6v2he.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Conversation","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Conversation","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/","name":"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-06T19:16:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-07T04:00:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#\/schema\/person\/d7ef49f6b4e3d94d0e200fbe8ed6bda7"},"description":"Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles remind readers every year, lamenting that the Jewish Festival of Lights has almost become an imitation of the Christian holiday.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/2023\/12\/hanukkah-celebrations-have-changed-dramatically-%e2%88%92-but-the-same-is-true-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hanukkah Celebrations Have Changed Dramatically \u2212 But The Same Is True Of Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/","name":"The Conversation","description":"The Conversation is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to helping academic experts share their knowledge with a broad public audience.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#\/schema\/person\/d7ef49f6b4e3d94d0e200fbe8ed6bda7","name":"The Conversation","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09532643009bd1c1a5988a87e8d2915c?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09532643009bd1c1a5988a87e8d2915c?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"The Conversation"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/author\/conversation\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}