Thoughts and Feelings and Latkes

Tomorrow is the last day of Hanukkah, and I spur-of-the-moment decided to invite a bunch of friends over for dinner. Which, as always, has resulted in every single one of them asking if I am Jewish.

In case you were wondering no, I am not. 

However, I am, as always, feeling the need to completely dissect why I continue to celebrate this holiday when I have no specific religious or cultural tie to it, and whether or not it is a form of cultural appropriation. I have always been fairly irreligious, and the older I get the more *over* Christmas and all its related insanity I am (the collective Western world seriously needs to slow its roll). When we started celebrating Hanukkah with my godparents a few years ago, it was really interesting for me, both because it was a look into another culture and religious tradition, and also because it was. Not. Christmas. Also, I can get behind Hanukkah a lot more - Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of a guy who, by all accounts, was a pretty cool dude, but whose religion I just don't really get - while Hanukkah, though still technically a religious holiday in the Abrahamic tradition, is all about finding light in the darkness, which is something that I find very beautiful and universal. 

Ḥănukkāh, usually spelled חנוכה, also known as the Festival of Lights and Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting 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.

So why do I continue to celebrate this holiday even when I'm not actually with the members of my family who are Jewish? I do think a part of it is that it is not Christmas. But if I wanted something that was not Christmas, I could (and do) go the completely pagan route of celebrating the winter solstice. Maybe its just that there is something immensely comforting in participating in a ritual and tradition that has hundreds of years behind it and thousands of people around the world also celebrating it. Maybe it just reminds me of home. More likely its a mish mash of a hundred little things. But I do love celebrating it. I love the ritual of it, the symbolism of it, the story behind it... and, of course, the food (latkes!!!).

I do still worry that there is an element of cultural appropriation in my celebration of this holiday though.

Also, if you are wondering, it is very hard to find a store in Edinburgh that sells menorahs and dradles. A friend suggested I call a local synagogue, but then I was like what if they ask me questions about Judaism? What if they start speaking to me in Hebrew or Yiddish? And if I say I'm not Jewish they get upset? (yes, I know I worry too much).

But whatever else, tomorrow night I will be making latkes and tofu schnitzel and spending the evening with friends, which I think is a pretty good use of time, no matter the reasons behind it.