Humans of Kings

“Getting the family together having, ya know, everyone over celebrating is always nice. Uh, the gifts are what I look forward to the most. Every night we light the candles, and ya know, sing the songs, and we’re all like ‘Okay! It’s gift time!’ It’s pretty simple. I’d say that Hanukkah is very underrepresented. It’s very much overlooked by Christmas, mostly because everyone’s like ‘Oh! Christmas!’ But it’s always like, where’s Hanukkah? And no one ever says anything or does anything; it’s not really acknowledged.”

Jordan Cornelison
Age 18

 

“My favorite memory from Hanukkah was from seventh or eighth grade because my brother is like not religious at all, but – so my mom used to not make him, like, light the menorah with us, but when I was in, like, seventh grade he decided he wanted to do it with us and it was just like a good family moment. Um, my favorite traditions are probably lighting the candle with my family or giving presents.  I think through school and stuff, everyone is always like Christmas. Like it’s Christmas dress up week, or like everything is based on Christmas. That kind of, like, overpowers Hanukkah in a way.”

Devin Biesbrock
Age 17

 

“So my dad’s parents are divorced, and his mom remarried and they’ve been married for my dad’s whole life basically, so he’s Jewish and he celebrates Hanukkah and Passover and stuff. Now every year we celebrate Hanukkah with him, either on the first or last night. Also, my mom’s new husband is also Jewish so we’ve kind of kept that tradition going. Um so every time we went to my grandparent’s house we always got like everyone a gift and wrote a hint of where it was and then we hid it, so when we were kids they were easier, but now that we’re all older we all just try to make it as obscure and hard as possible with places to hide it in their house.”

Rowan Hayden
Age 18

 

Article by Jess Harmon