This Christmas across the country
there may be fewer Jewish people eating Chinese food and going to the movies because in 2016 Hanukkah and Christmas share the same weekend. The first night (Jewish holidays begin at sunset) of the Jewish festival of lights falls on Christmas Eve and the first day lands on Christmas. The full dates for Hanukkah 2016 are the evening of Dec. 24 to the evening of Jan. 1.
Some families will surely retain some of the modern tradition of consuming Asian-American cuisine and a film, one born of having a day off when most other businesses are closed. But this time, look for an abundance of latkes, chocolate gelt and jelly doughnuts to directly coincide with the usual eggnog, sugar cookies, ham and gingerbread houses. Since the holiday begins so “late” this year, the eight-night celebration won’t wrap up until New Year’s Day.
So how did Hanukkah become a late-December affair this year? The shifting holidays of the Jewish calendar, which marks its New Year in fall, can be attributed to the fact that it is a lunar calendar, as opposed to the standard Gregorian calendar. The changes are also owed to the fact that neither the Gregorian nor lunar calendar precisely account for the actual length of a year, though they aren’t missing the mark by the same amount of time, either.
