Xmas, Hanukah and Winter Food and Festivities Around the World

 

Hanukah Coinciding With Christmas

This year, 2024, unusually, the 8 day Hanukah celebration coincides with Christmas. The start of Hanukah is on Christmas Day, December 25th. The Jewish calendar, changes dates each year. 

In the USA Christmas celebrations include a Santas' run. 

The Christmas celebration started as a religious holiday which included a midnight mass in the church,. These still take place in modern times in the UK and Europe.

Midnight Mass

 I attended a midnight mass in a church in Prague. Also one in London at a Catholic church. The one we went to was free, but to ensure seats for everybody, and comply with regulations preventing overcrowding, you might need to apply several days in advance for tickets. 

Advance Booking

The musical and/or religious event organizers may also need to know numbers to provide seating for all. Also to cater for any water or wine or wafers to be distributed, and for sufficient ushers, security or first aiders.) Be prepared for a donation box for charity being passed around. You might need cash, unless the health regulations banning coins and notes handled by many people, require donations in advance or arrears by cheques, bank transfer, phone pay or some other means.

Christmas was established on December 25th as the birthday of Jesus (whose date is not mentioned in the two books of the Christian New Testament. The date in December was to replace the pagan festival of Saturnalia, and to be in the week of the Solistice or sun's calendar's shortest day, so that a festival of light would cheer people and seem a good omen.

USA Streets

Street lights in the USA adorn skyscrapers in business districts, and rooftops of houses and on front lawns.  One street is entirely decorated by a man to cheer his wife who has dementia.

In some places the lights are such as attraction that traffic jams form, and there is a ban on non-residents and for cars, and/or pedestrians of tourists / a charge / voluntary charity collection.

New York has famous lights such as the Christmas tree. To accommodate people of all faiths and none, some places have renamed trees winter trees. Jewish organizations or commercial enterprises have offered blue stockings resembling the red ones, and a Hanukah bush in place of the tree. 

Chrismukah

The ideas multiply each year. A combined festival for mixed faith families or gatherings has been named by the combination word, or abbreviation, Chrismukah. At first this was probably intended by some to be viewed as mocking and negatively but it has become popular and positive.

Russia

Russia celebrates with grandfather Frost. He wears blue and white. He has a house you can visit.

North Macedonia

North Macedonia is Eastern Orthodox Christian. They celebrate the birth of Jesus in January.

Useful Websites on Christmas

https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas

Useful Websites on Hanukah

Wikipedia - Hanukah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah

Grapevine Kosher Wine Shops

https://www.kosherwine.co.uk/

tel> 020 8202 2631

Latkes and Salt Beef\

https://www.bksaltbeefbar.com/about

Donuts for hanukah time only in London, England, Margot Bakery 121 East End Rd, East Finchley.

https://www.margotbakery.co.uk/chanukah

Carrot and ginger soup recipe from the BBC

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/carrot-ginger-soup

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Albania - what to see and do, from Mother Teresa to Castles, Beaches and Wineries

 

The flag of Albania shows the pair of black eagles from which mythology says Albanians are supposed to be descended.

Places to visit.

You will probably fly into Albania via Mother Theresa airport of Tirana.

1 Tirana, the capital is in the middle, inland  The region is in the Northeast.

In Tirana you can visit Mother Teresa Square. It is near the Artificial Lake Park. Near the entrance is the Holocaust memorial. It was placed there as recently as 2020 which records how Albanians, Christians and Muslims, risked their lives to save the Jewish Albanians and refugees.

Two bunkers, bunker 1, and bunker 2, are massive art galleries and filled with oddities. Walking tour via Skandenbeg square.

Free tour leaves from 10 am in front of the opera house, for about two hours, tips appreciated.

2 To the west is the coastal region and the city of Durres. See the Roman amphitheatre. Also a Venetian tower.

South of Tirana is Berat.

3 Berat, is a UNESCO awarded historic town, whose name originally meant white city, partly on a cobbled hilltop with a 13th century castle, with losts of mosques and murals and Onufri museum. It is also called the town of a thousand windows.

Wine tasting tours take you to two of these: Nurellari Winery. Cobo . Luani Winery . Pupa /.Alpeta Agrotourism and Winery. (photos on Tripadvisor)

Shesh

The village of Shesh produces a grape of the same name. Taste locally made raki, a spirit (strong!) and olive oil.

You can book a tour from Tirana to both Berat and Torres above for about 60 dollars per person, if the group is large enough.

Going south along the coast, in the coastal region, you reach the Albanian riviera, where the coastal city of Dhermi is noted.

NORTH MACEDONIA

To the east of Albania is North Macedonia where you can see the statue and memorial to Mother Teresa.

Wiki says

The Mother Teresa Memorial House (Macedonian: Спомен-куќа на Мајка Тереза, Albanian: Shtëpia përkujtimore e Nënë Terezës) is dedicated to the Catholic saint and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mother Teresa. It is located in her hometown Skopje, in North Macedonia, where she lived from 1910 to 1928.

USA

Mother Teresa Museum, Florida, USA.

Useful Websites

tripadvisor

wikitravel

wikivoyage

USA

https://motherteresaproject.org/museum/

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