Chrismukkah (in Hungarian Hanukarácsony) is the merging of two holidays – Christmas and Hanukkah and it has become a tradition at the Hungarian Consulate in Los Angeles to have a Chrismukkah event to celebrate the two holidays together. This year, the first night of Hanukkah happens to fall on Christmas Eve — which hasn’t happened in nearly four decades.
The Jewish calendar relies on lunar cycles and Hanukkah begins on the same night every year: the 25th of the month of Kislev. The lunar calendar doesn’t line up with the solar-based Gregorian calendar and as a result of the different systems, Hanukkah’s start date changes year to year, falling anywhere between November 27 and December 26.
Since 1900, the first night of Hanukkah has fallen on Christmas Eve three times with 2016 being the fourth. Now even Chrismukkah decorations are sold, for example a wreath of buttery braided brioche called: Challah holiday wreath.
At the Hungarian Consulate in Los Angeles the Christmas tree with an Angel on top is placed next to the Hanukkah Menora which is also called Hanukkiah. Consul General Tamás Széles and Andrew Friedman, president of an Orthodox Jewish congregation Bais Naftoli, led the festivities.
Of course we all know that the Chrismukkah celebration in LA is just another PR weapon. Hungarian diplomats organize these Jewish-theme events to avoid dealing with real issues, like in California with the locally-registered, wildly popular, neo-Nazi Hungarian-language website – kuruc.info. This site has been operating undisturbed for more than a decade. Sham events like the Chrismukkah celebrations are supposed to demonstrate how tolerant and inclusive Hungary’s government is, yet the very same government tolerates (and often encourages) far-right ideas.
The Hungarian Consulate in Toronto also has a Holiday Greeting. They didn’t recognize Hanukkah; they wished Merry Christmas to everybody!
Happy Holidays!
György Lázár