It's so strange that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are on the same day this year. It's the first time since 1888, and it won't happen again for 70,000 years. Wow! They are calling it Thanksgivukkah , and they're coming up with all sorts of interesting recipes.

For us, I'd just as soon they be separated so we're celebrating Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving and Hanukkah on December 3rd. It would be fun to have some interesing recipes, though, like putting cranberries in your latkes or making pumpkin doughnuts.

I'm a little puzzled by this. Surely you can't move a festival on a whim?

I understood that Hanukkah starts this year at sunset on Wednesday 27 November (the day before your Thanksgiving holiday), when the first candle is lighted, and continues until nightfall on Thursday 5 December - it lasts for eight days anyway, not just the one.

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I'm a little puzzled by this. Surely you can't move a festival on a whim?

According to this, it's done in the UK as a regular practice.

I searched unsuccessfully to find an article I read several weeks ago. Some president in South America declared Christmas would be celebrated several weeks early, apparently so he could give Xmas bonuses before a general election. I wonder why.

Whre does it say that Bank Holiday is moved on a whim? It's held the first Monday in May. Anyway, it's not a religious observance.

The "whim" would be the decision to move it to the most opportune moment instead of the actual date originally specified.

It isn't a whim, arnie. Hanukkah starts on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. Why did you think it a "whim?" Hanukkah is a different day each year. It has just never been this early and won't be again for 70,000 years. It made it very special this year.

We had latkes for Thanksgiving. It was fun!

From your first post:

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we're celebrating Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving and Hanukkah on December 3rd.

Hanukkah lasts for 8 days, and you can celebrate it on any of those days. Some celebrate the first night only, others all or some of the 8 nights, and still others the last night. We have chosen December 3rd. The same happens with Passover, which also is 8 nights. Some Passover dinners are on the first night, some on the second night, and matzo will is eaten for all 8 days, instead of flour products.

So, you see, I don't consider it whimsical at all. However, I agree that it's definitely different from the Christian holidays.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
... it's definitely different from the Christian holidays.

All of which are adaptations of earlier holidays. AFAIK, christianity has no original holidays.

The reason we didn't celebrate Hanukkah completely with Thanksgiving (like with dreidels and gifts and Hanukkah gelt and food) is because some of our guests weren't Jewish. Most Jewish families I know celebrated Hanukkah with Thanksgiving.

We did have some latkes, though, with our Thanksgiving.