The Interfaith Holiday & What exactly is Chrismukkah?

Chrismukkah is a fresh name to describe the holiday season from the first night of Hanukkah though Christmas Day... it's a festive mix of favorite non-religious traditions from both holidays, a cultural gumbo of cherished secular holiday rituals and festivities shared by interfaith families with both Jewish and non-Jewish members. Chrismukkah is about "Frosty the Snowman", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", Barry Manilow singing "Jingle Bell Rock", Bing crooning "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song", Eggnog Lattes at Starbucks, sleigh rides, chocolate chanukah gelt, spinning the dreidel, twinkling lights and flickering candles, exchanging gifts with family and friends, and seasonal favorites like matzoh ball pizza, cranberry blintzes, curried latkes, kosher fruitcake and Manishewitz hot mulled wine.

According to the most recent United Jewish Communities (UJC) survey, there are 5.2 million Jewish people in America today and within the past 5 years, nearly half who married, wed non-Jewish spouses. In the western states, 42% of all married Jews are intermarried and nationwide, nearly 1/3rd are married to non-Jews. Chrismukkah is the way many of us spend the holiday... capturing the reality of our December experience.

Chrismukkah is generally celebrated from the 1st night of Hanukkah until Christmas Day. In 2004, Chanukah began sundown December 7th, and lasted a generous 18 days. In 2005, Hanukkah begins the day after Christmas - December 26th and so Chrismukkah will be a more condensed 9 day experience.

Chrismukkah aims to be all-inclusive and non-judgmental - Saints and sinners, naughty and nice, reds and blues, straight and gay... all may celebrate without guilt, obligation or self-consciousness. All are invited to "Spin the Dreidel" under the mistletoe. On a more serious level, Chrismukkah can help teach children of mixed heritage about rituals from both sides of their family. Most of all, kids (and grown-ups too) love Chrismukkah because there are 18 nights of presents! You may read and post Chrismukkah stories here.

The Origin of Chrismukkah.

Michelle and I were married in early 2003. Both of us had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years. In December, we were living in our cozy little beach house just south of The City, yearning for a return to the 4 seasons of our youth, when it actually snowed in December. We were hatching a plan to move to a beautiful mountain valley, not far from Bozeman, Montana, where we owned some land. Meanwhile, our 6 month old daughter Minna was happily doing her best to keep us up all night. One sleep deprived evening, we were slumped on the sofa, watching TV.

The holiday episode of our favorite guiity pleasure, "The O.C." was on and "Chrismukkah" was being celebrated by the Jewish/Protestant family on the show. Having previously received emailings of the widely ciruclated "Chrismukkah press release" (a satiric jab at monopolization of the media by Clear Channel Communications - see below) we appreciated the tongue-in-cheek, ironic reference to the holidays as celebrated in sunny California. But the name struck a resonant chord with us... a newly minted interfaith family... daughter of a Protestant minister, and .. a New York City Jewish boy - had a few things in common with the O.C.'s Cohen family... made her annual home-made cards for friends and relatives, this year featuring .. "Happy Chrismukkah".... The reaction was generally positive, with only the occasional "Oy Humbug" from the most conservative recipients.. Chrismukkah cards and in October 2004 Chrismukkuh.com press release announcing the launch of the site [beame reality.] (chrismukkah.com)

How our family celebrates Chrismukkah...

..Chrismukkah - the holiday - is more a "state of mind" for the season. Even so, according to an article about us in the 11/13/04 London Times, our Chrismukkah has been welcomed by Dr Jonathan Romain, a leading rabbi in England. When that article appeared, it seemed Chrismukkah transitioned into something real. Chrismukkah has since been the subject of stories in literally thousands of media outlets around the world - newspapers, radio stations, TV reports, web sites, blog sites, discussion groups. It's become a household word in a matter of weeks... With so much media attention, it was inevitable that we'd hear from some people, both Christians and Jews, who do not approve of intermarriage or the celebration of holidays from different religions under the same roof.

[Comments by those who started this ball] We've been called "too far over the syncretistic edge" by one organization that took our Chrismukkah a bit too seriously. We've been accused of being part of a "Jews for Jesus" plot. Some suspect we have formed a Chrismukkah religious cult here in Montana, a State so remote, that many imagine Jews wearing John Deere yarmulkes and yodel "Yippee ay OY Kayay" on high holidays. Nothing could be further from the truth... [we] are just your typical, if liberal minded, parents with different cultural and religious backgrounds... Like many millions of others very much like us, we're doing our best to figure out the right thing to do as a family and parents in a very complex world.

We respect all people's right to believe in whatever faith or ideology they chose, and to whatever degree of orthodoxy they chose. By celebrating the Chrismukkah season, we do NOT suggest combining the religious observance of Christmas and Hanukkah.

In our house, we chose to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. We have a beautiful decorated holiday tree with ornaments. We light the menorah during the 8 nights of Chanukah. We go to the children's Hanukkah party at the synagogue we belong to. The outside of our house is decorated with electric lights. We go home to visit family during Christmas, and may attend Christmas mass as a family.

But we celebrate the religious rituals of each holiday seperately and with respect. We passionately believe in religious freedom and tolerance along with our right to worship, or not worship, as we please, especially at a time of growing anxiety about separation of church and state and religion fueled fundamentalist violence around the world.

We fully understand that Christmas means much more than stockings, snowmen, pretty lights and gift giving. We know that Hanukkah is deeper than spinning the dreidel and matzo ball soup. We hope that celebrating Chrismukkah will encourage tolerance and increases the likelihood that children of interfaith marriages will be more knowledgeable about their dual cultural heritage.

Read the Chrismukkah November 9, 2004 Press Release or Fact Sheet.

The original text of the 1998 Mock "Chrismukkah" news release which circulated widely over the net:
-- Corporate Merger Announced --
"Continuing the current trend of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, it was announced today at a press conference that Christmas and Hanukkah will merge. An industry source said that the deal had been in the works for about 1300 years. While details were not available at press time, it is believed that the overhead cost of having twelve days of Christmas and eight days of Hanukkah was becoming prohibitive for both sides. By combining forces, we're told, the world will be able to enjoy consistently high-quality service during the Fifteen Days of Chrismukkah, as the new holiday is being called.

Massive layoffs are expected, with lords a-leaping and maids a-milking being the hardest hit. As part of the conditions of the agreement, the letters on the dreydl, currently in Hebrew, will be replaced by Latin, thus becoming unintelligible to a wider audience. Also, instead of translating to "A great miracle happened there" the message on the dreydl will be the more generic "Miraculous stuff happens" In exchange, it is believed that Jews will be allowed to use Santa Claus and his vast merchandising resources for buying and delivering their gifts.

One of the sticking points holding up the agreement for at least three hundred years was the question of whether Jewish children could leave milk and cookies for Santa even after having eaten meat for dinner. A breakthrough came last year, when Oreos were finally declared to be Kosher. All sides appeared happy about this.

A spokesman for Christmas, Inc., declined to say whether a takeover of Kwanzaa might not be in the works as well. He merely pointed out that, were it not for the independent existence of Kwanzaa, the merger between Christmas and Chanukah might indeed be seen as an unfair cornering of the holiday market. Fortunately for all concerned, he said, Kwanzaa will help to maintain the competitive balance.
He then closed the press conference by leading all present in a rousing rendition of 'Oy Vey, All Ye Faithful' "