Rant #3,597: Right Place, Wrong Time (?)

It is hard to believe, but a week from yesterday, Christmas Day and the first night of Hannukah will be on exactly the same day.

I don't ever remember this happening before, but I am told that it actually has, the last time in 2005, but it has only happened four times in the last 100 years or so.

It all has to do with the Jewish calendar, which runs differently than the calendar that we generally use.

And for the first time since 2005, Hanukkah will actually take place AFTER Christmas, because the Jewish holiday begins after sunset of December 25, the first day of Christmas, and the eight-day celebration will extend past New Year's Day into early 2025.

I guess this has its positive and negative aspects.

Jew and non-Jew alike can celebrate their holidays at the same time, but on the other hand, Hanukkah will kind of get buried by all-encompassing Christmas.

And the duality of the day will continue the perpetual nonsense that Hanukkah is "the Jewish Christmas" which is so utterly nonsensical--

But it is simply amazing how many people actually believe this craziness.

And again--and I don't know how many times I have to say this--both holidays are wonderful celebrations, but one holiday has absolutely NOTHING to do with the other, other than annually coming at just about the same time of the year--

In 2025, I think Hanukkah comes about a week before Christmas does.

And there is no such thing as "Chrismukkah," that is just a media invention thst means absolutely nothing, because it simply does not exist.

And the next thing that I contemplate every year around this time is what the correct spelling of the Jewish holiday is.

For the first probably 50 years of my life, I spelled it "CHANUKAH," but since then I have spelled it "HANUKKAH."

I don't know why I switched, but I did, even though the latter spelling is pretty much angilicized.

Now, with angilicization not currently the way to go, I think it is time to go back to "CHANUKAH," because the accent on the word is on the "Ch " pronouncing it with a heavier "H" sound.

It isn't "Cha-nukah" like "chair," It is "Chanukah" like a more gutteral "hair"--

So I will go with "Hannu--" err ... "Chanukah" for now on.

So, Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas to all!--

On the same date this year, believe it or not!