Celebrate Hanukkah 2019: Traditions and activities

This article is an easy guide for how to celebrate Hanukkah. Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah, is a Jewish festival. It is a festival of light celebrated for eight days.

Do read this article until the end. Also, you can read:
How to spell Hanukkah?
Is it Hanukkah or Chanukah?

Traditional ideas for holiday celebration

Light the Menorah: The menorah is also known as Chanukiah. It is consists of eight holders of either oil or candles. Modern designs have LED bulbs instead of candles and can be turned on with regular AA batteries.

Buy a menorah (I have listed best and durable menorahs for my readers). Place candles or put oil in holders. Light on each of the eight nights of Chanukah. You should start on Sunday night December 2, 2018.
The candle which is lit first, that is used to kindle the other lights is called Shamash. usually, the family head lights the shamas and sings the prayer.

Dreidel game: It is a game played to celebrate Hanukkah. The dreidel has four main sides each printed with Hebrew letters. The rules of the game may vary.

The four words on dreidle are:

• Nun- The player does nothing.
• Gimel- The player gets everything in the pot.
• Hey- The player gets half of the pot.
• Shin- The player adds a game piece to the pot

You can play it on your computer or smartphone. Search for 'Dreidel game' in google search and you will see spinning dreidel there.

Gelt: It means money or chocolate coins. Chanukah gelt is often gifted to relatives as a gift. The choco coins are also used by children while playing the dreidel game.

Gifts: The old tradition of giving chocolate gelt is still around, but the current trend is giving actual gifts. You can shop at Amazon to buy beautiful gifts for your favorite person.

Ways to celebrate Hanukkah with your family

Family matter a lot. There are many ways to include children and adults in our joy. Here are some of them.

Eat together

Family dinners build relationships. Sadly, most of us rarely eat together anymore. National survey reveals nearly half of American families eat dinner together fewer than three times a week.

We should eat together with our family members and also spread the importance of it. The family dinner gives a chance to the family members to reconnect with each other after a long day at the coaching center or offices.

Let everyone get involved in food preparation. Involve children in table setting and cleaning. It is a good opportunity to make cooking as a hobby for children.

Play games

As told above it is the tradition of Chanukah and should be done to celebrate.

Read stories and watch movies

Who doesn't love stories? These stories are special because of the people with which we share them and the quality time spent reading them together. The whole family can enjoy it in this way.

Many of the children (even many of us) don't know the true story of Chanukah and when it is celebrated. How it is started and changed with time.

The tradition does have an extremely rich history that is necessary to reach your kids. 

Try to settle down with Hanukkah themed stories and movies while selecting.