For the first half of the holiday, we learned about the story and religious aspects to the celebration of Hanukkah. For the second half we are talking about the traditions involved in the celebration!
As I mentioned before, it's encouraged that the menorah be lit and displayed in public settings to publicize God's miracle of light. With the current unrest in the middle east, I, and many Jews, are finding this public display to be especially symbolic. Therefore I have chosen to post an oil menorah being lit by a rabbi at last year's (12/12/23) bi-partisan US Capital Menorah Lighting ceremony, attended (from left) by House Minority Leader Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Schumer (who is Jewish and therefore is wearing a yarmulke) and House Majority Leader Johnson.
When I was a child, and when my children were in school, it seemed that at almost every school "Winter Concert" the song that is chosen to give a nod to Hanukkah is the "I Have a Little Dreidel" song. It's probably the song most people associate with Hanukkah, but for those that are unfamiliar, I've linked it here: The Dreidel Song. And although the song claims that "I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay", I've never made, or even seen, a dreidel made of clay. (Since posting that last year, I have been assured that dreidels may in fact be made from clay!) However I have seen them made of many other things including glass, ceramic and wood, although of course most common today is plastic.
Day 6 and 7 we are going to discuss the dreidel, a four-sided spinning top used in a gambling (yes, really) game that is traditionally played during Hanukkah by children and adults alike. Dreidel is actually a Yiddish word; the Hebrew word for dreidel is sivivon. But, why is the dreidel game played on Hanukkah? Well - the answer that I was taught is actually found in Jewish folklore. The story is that when ancient Greek authorities outlawed studying the Torah (the Jewish Bible, also known as the Old Testament), Jews continued their practice of Bible discussion. They brought along a dreidel, so that if a Greek saw a group of Jews around a table, it would look like an innocent gambling game rather than illegal Bible study. This, we were told, was the origin of the connection between dreidels and Hanukkah. Like many things in Jewish folklore, the story that most of us heard about dreidels as children is entirely ahistorical. There were no dreidels in ancient times, and the tops were not used as a way to conceal Torah study from the ancient Greeks. In fact, the dreidel originally had nothing to do with Hanukkah, or even with Jews, at all. But playing dreidel has been associated with Hanukkah since at least the 18th century and tomorrow we will talk about how the dreidel game is played!
Since dreidels are spinning tops, today's challenge is to put something that spins, rotates or twirls on your layout! If it goes around in a circle, it qualifies!
In my example, on our last cruise, my husband and I witnessed a medical evacuation at sea by helicopter. Helicopter's rotor blades, by definition, rotate!
Now the boring stuff for Hanukkah Day 6.
1) You must include something that spins on your layout.
2) You may combine with one other monthly challenge that permits it, but you may NOT submit the same layout for 2 different Hanukkah challenges.
3) Only one submission, per person, per challenge.
4) Entries must be new single or double page layouts and may be digital or paper. Cards are permitted for this challenge.
5) Entries for HANUKKAH DAY SIX - SPINNING CHALLENGE must be posted to this thread by 1/31/25 at midnight.
6) MOST IMPORTANT: I hope that you learn something and that you HAVE FUN!
Participating cherries:
1) traveler
2) SandyK1967
3) wazzu94
4) stinkerbelle
5) mizz_kitty
6) Amy_Jo
7) sherrscraps
8) JAire
9) lesmitch
10) MrsFleck
11) Aztam
12) karenc.
13) scrapsteph
14) shoorn
15) nellie_pickle
16) shortonideas
17) Breauxlabs
18) joannie
19) ScrappinRN74
20) lisn2cats
21) GinniG
22) scrappinmom99
23) VickiR
24) wendycrowe
25) Scrapqueen141
26) MaganL
27) Trek
28) aheatfan
29) Sandi0805
30) AnneMichelle
31) lilkoala
~~Sandy~~ 
I definitely remember the cassettes, I had so many as a child. Both music and books on tape, I loved them. 
lol I remember all of this stuff! 
