Last year,
when we read Story of the World Volume 1,
we learned about the Maccabees trashing the Jewish Temple and ruining the oil.
We learned that one bottle of oil, was supposed to only burn for one night
but lasted for eight.
We learned that this miracle is the basis for Hanukkah.
This fall,
Story of the World Volume 2 introduced us to the Muslim religion
and an independent study of various religions ensued.
This year, we decided to celebrate Hanukkah as well as Christmas.
We did some reading on the subject.
We spoke with some of our Jewish friends,
one was even kind enough to loan us a menorah and give us several recipes.
Each night, before dinner,
we said the blessings:
Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in the days of old, at this season.
There is one additional blessing that is only said on the first night:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has kept us alive, and preserved us, and enabled us to reach this time.
and we lit the candles
One day, we hosted a Hanukkah luncheon for our homeschool group.
We had latkes and snufgiote and bagels.
We followed the custom of having the youngest person light the candles.
Hanukkah cooking is all about using oil: fried potato latkes, fried donuts...
We really enjoyed lighting the menorah every night for all eight nights of Hanukkah.
If we had a guest over, we asked the guest to light the menorah.
I think we all got a much better understanding and appreciation for Hanukkah
and just how long eight days last
from celebrating Hanukkah.
I think we will make celebrating Hanukkah an annual tradition.
