Monday 26 June 2017

Chanukah - the Jewish festival of light 🕯🕎✡️

On Friday we had a Jewish visitor who came to talk to year 1 about a Jewish celebration called 'Chanukah' (pronounced Hanukkah). This festival takes place in December close to, or sometimes on, Christmas Day. Jewish people light a special candlestick called a 'Menorah' which has 8 candles and a larger helper candle in the middle, which it uses to light the other 8 candles. The number 8 is special because it represents how long the oil lasted in the miracle story told by Jewish people of the past, in their holy scroll, the 'Torah'. 

We also learnt they have a big party with their families including lots of tasty foods cooked in oil (such as donuts and pancakes) and they give each other gifts, 1 each day for 8 days. Usually the gifts include a toy called a 'dreidel' which is a spinning toy with instructions written in the Jewish language of 'Hebrew' on it. 

The children sat nicely and listened carefully to our visitor and we would like to thank her for giving up her time to share her information with us. 

 

 

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