Alexandria, VA – On Wednesday December 25, Christians the world over will celebrate Christmas. That is not unusual, Christmas is on December 25 every year. What makes this date in 2024 remarkable is that Jews will also usher in Hanukkah, the eight-day Festival of Lights.
This year, Hanukkah and Christmas will overlap for a rare meeting of the two winter holidays. It is not unusual for some part of Hanukkah to occur over Christmas. But Hanukkah beginning on Christmas is rare. How often is this convergence?
We last saw it in 2016. However, that year, the first day of Hanukkah fell on Christmas Eve. Other notable instances when Christmas and Hanukkah have overlapped are 1918, 1921, 1959, 2000, and 2005. Next time we will see these two holidays converge is in 2027.
It is even more rare to see Hanukkah and Thanksgiving bumping into each other. It is exceedingly scarce for Hanukkah to fall in November. The last time that happened was in 2013. We won’t be seeing that overlap again for another 79,811 years but there will be partial overlaps on November 27, 2070, and November 28, 2165, with the first night of Hanukkah beginning in the evening of Thanksgiving.
Hanukkah occurring over winter break is a boon for Jewish parents. Without the pressures of school, exams, and homework, the parents Zebra talked to said it gives them more time to celebrate the Jewish holiday with their children. “It allows for more flexibility to spend time with family who are not in Alexandria,” said Debbie Perry. The Del Ray mother has two school children ages 10 and 12. “It also allows us to let the kids stay up later to celebrate.”
Since school is out, many families take advantage of the break and travel. How does that affect their Hanukkah observance? “Several years ago, we went to Cancun during Hanukkah and joked that we were probably the only people lighting a menorah at night in the resort,” Perry laughed. “But it was important for us to keep the tradition and make sure the kids knew that it was Hanukkah no matter where we were.”
Christmas falls every year on December 25 of the solar calendar. Hanukkah also falls on the 25th of the month — but of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which is determined by the lunar calendar. As a result, Hanukkah falls on a different date each year on the Gregorian calendar.
This year, Hannukah will begin at nightfall on Wednesday December 25 and run until sundown January 2. Because Hanukkah spills into 2025, there will be two Hanukkahs in the same calendar year.
The two holidays will light up the night during the darkest time of year. However, Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Both are widely observed gift-giving holidays that fall in December, but the similarities end there. While Christmas is the most significant Christian observance of the year, marking the birth of Jesus, Hanukkah was until modern times a relatively minor Jewish holiday. The holiest days on the Jewish calendar are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are observed in early autumn.
Hanukkah, which is Hebrew for “dedication,” commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and restoring its menorah, or lamp. The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial was found with just enough oil to illuminate the Temple lamp for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days.
Jews celebrate the holiday by lighting the menorah, a candelabra featuring eight candles and one shamash, or lighter candle, eating latkes and donuts (the fried oil commemorates the vial of oil found in the Temple), and playing the iconic game of dreidel.
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