Thanksgivukkah is a portmanteau made to describe the coincidence of both Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah occurring on Thursday, November 28, 2013. This rare coincidence has happened at least twice since 1863, when Thanksgiving was made a national holiday. However, as a result of changes made during FDR’s administration, Thanksgiving is now always held on the fourth Thursday in November, making the occurrence even more rare (the date of Thanksgiving used to vary). Physicists have predicted that the next overlap will occur in the year 79811, though partial overlaps–meaning the first night of Hanukkah will begin the evening of Thanksgiving–will occur in the years 2070 and 2165.
For this rare event, Newton South students spent the holiday in different ways:
Maya Michlin, Freshman: “My family and I celebrated Thanksgivukkah with our Jewish family friends. We ate turkey and had a traditional Thanksgiving meal. However, since it was also Hanukkah, we lit the second candle at sundown. Overall, it was a very warm holiday for families and friends to spend time together. It didn’t change how we usually celebrate either holiday.”
Aaron Foster, Freshman: “I kind of celebrated them separately. But I did contemplate making a Turkey menorah. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our grandparents. For Hanukkah we’ve been lighting candles but that’s about it.”
Sasha Boroda, Sophomore: “For me it didn’t make a conflict, and I celebrated by lighting the Hanukkah candles before eating thanksgiving dinner and then the candles were on the table where we ate.”
Jay Maxwell, Sophomore: “I had family over, played some football, watched football and ate turkey. I lit the menorah, said some prayers…and got scratch tickets.”
Sammi Goodstein, Junior: “I celebrated Hanukkah by lighting the menorah, singing the prayers, eating latkes, spending quality time with family, opening gifts while having a Thanksgiving dinner with my family. There were more reasons to be thankful for the things I have and the family I love, also more food.”
Eli Levine, Junior: “My family got together and lit the menorah while sticking to the traditional American customs of eating turkey and other thanksgiving foods. Because of the calendar, it seemed later in the year and the whole thing felt rushed.”
Isabel Snyder, Senior: “I had thanksgiving and Hanukkah with my cousins. Thanksgiving wasn’t different but Hanukkah just didn’t seem as Jewish, like it didn’t seem as special because it was more focused on Thanksgiving than it was on Hanukkah…It was not as focused on Hanukkah so it felt like we were neglecting a holiday. We didn’t have all the foods that we normally eat, like latkes…we had Thanksgiving food.”
Bailey Michell, Senior: “Besides from endless puns and jokes about it being Thanksgivukkah, it was fairly similar. We just like kind of added the menorah and the prayers to our dinner…It felt pretty normal. It’s like, it was kind of fun having it at the same time because it never happens, once every 7000 years I think. But it didn’t really feel all that weird.”
For more information on Thanksgivukkah, visit the Thanksgivukkah website here.
