Could 'Chrismukkah' appeal to all?
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:02 pm
By KIMBERLY DURNAN / DallasNews.com
It’s beginning to look a lot like Chrismukkah.
This year’s rare calendar convergence of Christmas and Hanukkah along with the commercial mishmash of the holidays advances a new trend of interfaith celebrations and salutations. The result: Merry Mazel Tov cards, Kris Kringle kugel recipes and red yarmulkes trimmed in white fur.
“It’s a whimsical, self-deprecating way to poke fun at ourselves because with families of different faiths, how do you keep everyone happy?” said Ron Gompertz, who peddles holiday cards and a cookbook through his online business, http://www.chrismukkah.com. “Balancing all the pushes and pulls of both holidays is what Chrismukkah is all about.”
Gompertz, who is Jewish, is married to the daughter of a Church of Christ reverend. After their daughter was born, he decided to dabble in the commercialization of the two holidays with a touch of humor and an absence of theology.
“You can’t escape the commercial Christmas phenomenon,” Gompertz said. “Pipsqueak Hanukkah is just trying to swim in the tidal wave.”
The term Chrismukkah has decades-old German roots, but was more recently popularized during by the teen soap The O.C., according to Gompertz.
Character Seth Cohen, played by Adam Brody, has a Jewish father and Christian mother. In one episode, he explains to a friend about the miracle of Chrismukkah that will soon sweep the nation with a tradition of eight days of presents followed by one day with lots of presents.
At Loews Hotels in New York City, Miami and Santa Monica, Calif., patrons will be able to order fare like apple-cranberry latkes with eggnog ice cream, shalom sangria and Star of David cookies made of gingerbread, spokeswoman Maria Andriano said.
“It’s a menu for the multifaith,” Andriano said. “Chrismukkah has really gone mainstream.”
Because the Jewish calendar is tied to the cycles of the moon rather than the sun, the holidays move around each year. Hanukkah has fallen as early as the evening of Nov. 27 and as late as the evening of Dec. 26.
This year, Christmas and Hanukkah meet in way that last occurred in 1959, with the Jewish festival beginning at sunset on Sunday, Dec. 25. Before then, it happened in 1910 and 1921.
Perhaps because of the rarity of the holidays’ meeting, Chrismukkah’s cultural appeal has become more apparent this year. The celebration is a hot topic on message boards and blogs. The Food Network’s Rachael Ray whipped up a Chrismukkah brunch on the Today show earlier this week. The O.C.’s Web site sells “Have a Very Merry Chrismukkah” CD and other related items.
While Chrismukkah enjoys lighthearted support, some religious groups bristle at the idea, saying it dilutes both holidays and their respective religions.
“Chrismukkah is a multicultural mess that glosses over the historical significance of both Hanukkah and Christmas,” wrote Catholic League president William Donohue in a statement issued earlier this month. “Not surprisingly, it is most popular with secular Jews and their equally non-observant Christian counterparts.”
Most interfaith families do honor both holidays but keep the celebrations separate, according to a 2005 December Dilemma Survey conducted by InterfaithFamily.com, a group that encourages Jewish choices by interfaith families.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they thought Chrismukkah was a bad idea because blending the holidays undercuts their unique history and meaning and may confuse children.
The union of the holidays doesn’t present much of problem for Karen Goudie’s interfaith family. The Frisco mother said she is raising her three children in the Jewish faith, but enjoys including some of her husband’s Christian traditions during the holidays.
“We usually have a Christmas dinner and a Hanukkah party,” she said. “We have an artificial tree, menorahs and we decorate the house every which way. My daughter says it’s not fair to not have a Christmas tree up because it’s not fair to Daddy.”
Research librarian Molly Motley Blythe contributed to this story.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Chrismukkah.
This year’s rare calendar convergence of Christmas and Hanukkah along with the commercial mishmash of the holidays advances a new trend of interfaith celebrations and salutations. The result: Merry Mazel Tov cards, Kris Kringle kugel recipes and red yarmulkes trimmed in white fur.
“It’s a whimsical, self-deprecating way to poke fun at ourselves because with families of different faiths, how do you keep everyone happy?” said Ron Gompertz, who peddles holiday cards and a cookbook through his online business, http://www.chrismukkah.com. “Balancing all the pushes and pulls of both holidays is what Chrismukkah is all about.”
Gompertz, who is Jewish, is married to the daughter of a Church of Christ reverend. After their daughter was born, he decided to dabble in the commercialization of the two holidays with a touch of humor and an absence of theology.
“You can’t escape the commercial Christmas phenomenon,” Gompertz said. “Pipsqueak Hanukkah is just trying to swim in the tidal wave.”
The term Chrismukkah has decades-old German roots, but was more recently popularized during by the teen soap The O.C., according to Gompertz.
Character Seth Cohen, played by Adam Brody, has a Jewish father and Christian mother. In one episode, he explains to a friend about the miracle of Chrismukkah that will soon sweep the nation with a tradition of eight days of presents followed by one day with lots of presents.
At Loews Hotels in New York City, Miami and Santa Monica, Calif., patrons will be able to order fare like apple-cranberry latkes with eggnog ice cream, shalom sangria and Star of David cookies made of gingerbread, spokeswoman Maria Andriano said.
“It’s a menu for the multifaith,” Andriano said. “Chrismukkah has really gone mainstream.”
Because the Jewish calendar is tied to the cycles of the moon rather than the sun, the holidays move around each year. Hanukkah has fallen as early as the evening of Nov. 27 and as late as the evening of Dec. 26.
This year, Christmas and Hanukkah meet in way that last occurred in 1959, with the Jewish festival beginning at sunset on Sunday, Dec. 25. Before then, it happened in 1910 and 1921.
Perhaps because of the rarity of the holidays’ meeting, Chrismukkah’s cultural appeal has become more apparent this year. The celebration is a hot topic on message boards and blogs. The Food Network’s Rachael Ray whipped up a Chrismukkah brunch on the Today show earlier this week. The O.C.’s Web site sells “Have a Very Merry Chrismukkah” CD and other related items.
While Chrismukkah enjoys lighthearted support, some religious groups bristle at the idea, saying it dilutes both holidays and their respective religions.
“Chrismukkah is a multicultural mess that glosses over the historical significance of both Hanukkah and Christmas,” wrote Catholic League president William Donohue in a statement issued earlier this month. “Not surprisingly, it is most popular with secular Jews and their equally non-observant Christian counterparts.”
Most interfaith families do honor both holidays but keep the celebrations separate, according to a 2005 December Dilemma Survey conducted by InterfaithFamily.com, a group that encourages Jewish choices by interfaith families.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they thought Chrismukkah was a bad idea because blending the holidays undercuts their unique history and meaning and may confuse children.
The union of the holidays doesn’t present much of problem for Karen Goudie’s interfaith family. The Frisco mother said she is raising her three children in the Jewish faith, but enjoys including some of her husband’s Christian traditions during the holidays.
“We usually have a Christmas dinner and a Hanukkah party,” she said. “We have an artificial tree, menorahs and we decorate the house every which way. My daughter says it’s not fair to not have a Christmas tree up because it’s not fair to Daddy.”
Research librarian Molly Motley Blythe contributed to this story.
