10 Fun Hanukkah Family Traditions To Start This Year
byCat Bowen
Every year, my family and friends get together to make latkes and sufganiyot and listen to Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song" while lighting the candles on the menorah. It's not our only tradition, but it's my favorite. If you're looking for Hanukkah family traditions you can start this year, look no further. I have oodles of ideas, and you might just find one that you love. (But don't worry, Chinese food and movies are still on for December 25, even if it falls during Hanukkah — this tradition is sacrosanct.)
Hanukkah is a holiday celebrating miracles, and the power and purpose of resistance. Over the centuries, the way it is celebrated has evolved, and traditions that families follow are a beautiful example of this. I have friends that choose a protest every year to attend, others who make the same jams each year for their sufganiyot from the figs in their backyard, and my neighbor, the Rabbi's family, does acts of service. They also hit up the same bakery every year for their famous chocolate donuts. (They are, in a word, miraculous.)
A few traditions are universal — like fried food. Because a part of the holiday celebrates the fact that a small amount of oil burned for eight days, foods on Hanukkah more closely resemble those found at a state fair than on a dinner table. The other is lighting the candles on the menorah at dusk. Each candle or oil wick burns to represent each of the eight days that the oil burned during the rededication of the temple after the Maccabees defeated the Syrian army and reclaimed it for G-d and the Jewish people.