Chanukah, Oh Chanukah!
Come Light and Adulation
Miraculous Renewable Phenomena
Dedication, Oh Dedication!
Hiya,
I hope you're staying well and warm inside. I am personally celebrating Chanukah and as usual thinking about what all of it has to do with climate and clean energy. Despite me being an agnostic/secular jew and Chanukah being a relatively minor holiday, my family has our traditions and make a meaningful moment of it. I also try to write something for each night, and this year I thought I'd share with you, too. This one asks and tries to answer the When of it all – enjoy.
When is Chanukah
A question we annually ask, just to be clear
Is “When is Chanukah this year?”
*checks notes*
Ah, I see-- THAT soon?
Guess I should’ve asked the moon...
But why? Do we always check, we should check
On Why it is Chanukah temporally treks
Criss-crossing the Gregorian, fixed on the Hebrew
Calendars like Waze directing the best route
You don’t really know, but you trust the commute
You’ll get to your destination, eight days of it in fact
A holiday for Dedication, to potato pancakes stacked
And candles and dreidels and stories and light
And miracles and faith winning the underdog’s fight
And the holidayfication, the resistance to it, to the gifts right
Little blessings, we present each other, in our presence
So depending when it falls, you better be ready for it
From as early as when Chanukah happened on our Thanksgiving convening, back in 2013
To as late as happening on Christmas or even beginning December 26th, last in 1986
But, beyond this year’s start-date, does anyone know - ?
When, between dawn and dusk, time-wise, Chanukah goes?
*check’s notes*
Ah I see, it’s the eve BEFORE the day, sunset-attuned
So really it’s not the 25th of Kislev, but under the 24th’s moon
The Moon, important here
Not just as glowing poetic sphere
But as Guide, as Calendar Controller
As the Hebrew Calendar is Moon-drawn, “Lunisolar”
Spacing each Chanukah candle in moonlit color
So mark your calendars eve-prior, the 25th of Kislev,
(eve-prior November 29th) to the 2nd day of Tevet,
5782 (December 6th, 2021). Take tonight’s shooting Shamash crossing the sky
Lighting the first candle by trailing tail rainbow bright
The more you know -- now you know, at least that’s what I had in my notes –
Chanukah, Oh Chanukah!
Come Light and Adulation
Miraculous Renewable Phenomena
Dedication, Oh Dedication!
Beyond When, “Chanukah” translated means “Dedication”
Meaning, to honor memory on this occasion
The nights mean something, the Menorah— a metaphor
The lights mean something, the fight inside— renewable.
— Adam Powers, 24th of Kislev, 5782 / 28th of November, 2021
Reference: Vox.com “How often does the first night of Hanukkah fall on Christmas?”
Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash