Heh, my family would only use an electric one. Solves all the candle problems! (Though the real candle ones look much nicer.)
My sister mentioned that someone she knew in northern Minnesota has a moose menorah. Not necessarily that one though.
But really, if I didn’t have a sister-in-law who is muslim, I probably wouldn’t know jack shit about Ramadan. Recent Indian co-workers have taught me some about the Indian holidays and observances. Lots out there that I don’t know.
I still have the little clay menorah I made in sunday school when I was 6. It’s got the correct size and number of holes.
You should have asked the clerk how she pronounces “Christmas.”
This had me giggling like a madman at my desk.
It’s pronounced <throat clear> rist - muss
I’m a reasonably well educated and intelligent person and until I opened this thread I didn’t know you needed a special kind of candle for Hanukah. Why would I know every little detail about a religious holiday I’ve never observed?
I mean, I can tell you when Hanukah takes place, and more or less what it commemorates, but I can’t know the details. I know even less about Diwali, and I couldn’t even name a Buddhist holy day or even tell you if they have any.
But that’s only number given on the twelfth day, unless there’s some regifting going on. By the end of the song, you have twelve partridges, as you are given one each day. (Whether you have 12 pear trees is debatable.)
Anyone know any quick math that covers every gift given?
The correct spelling is दीपावली (and of the Jewish holiday, חנכה), but those are even harder for English-speakers to pronounce
Intranet-narrative remark noted and appreciated.
Does Walgreens really have special Hanukah candles?
No, but if Jesus sees his shadow it’s six more weeks of winter.
Thankew! If I’m here for 8 nights THAT will be a miracle! Be sure to tip your waitresses!
Also:
Person who worships a magical sky daddy scoffs at the ignorance of others.
Film at eleven.
You do not need a special kind of candle for chanukkah. Many Chanukiahs (chanukkah menorahs) take a particular “gauge” if you will and this type of candle is known as a Chanukkah candle. These exact candles, it might be noted, are given away free at Jewish aterschools and such, so that any Jewish family with children will have an almost endless supply.
But you can have a Chanukiah for any kind of candle. I had one that took birthday candles, some take tea lights, or some even use little pots of oil instead of candles.
It’s exactly like a birthday candle. There’s no rule that only one kind of candle is allowed upon one’s birthday. But a certain type of candle is used for birthdays and little else, and is thus known as a “birthday candle.”
It is surprising (somewhat) to hear that you need specially sized candles for a menorah, but the fact that this lady had never even heard of the holiday is very surprising and disappointing.
Isn’t is also true that you’re supposed to let the candles burn themselves out, rather than putting them out yourself? This would mean you wouldn’t want to use, say, shabbat candles, which burn for 24 hours…
I’ve never seen a Shabbat candle that burns for 24 hours. Yahrtzeit candles burn for 24 hours, though.
I am so pronouncing it this way from now on. 
Let’s start a movement and get Bill O’Reilly really pissed at us.
Well, yeah, there’s no rule anywhere that I know of about what kind of candles you should use. As Hello Again mentioned a few posts above, you might even have one that burns little pots of oil – as surely the ner tamid (eternal lamp) did when the Jews of Maccabean days rededicated the Temple.
A google image search for hanukkah candles shows a great variety of them.
The ones I always knew were larger than typical birthday candles but smaller than typical Shabbas candles, as other have described above. They came in carnival colors, and were always fluted in a spiral pattern around them, like Greek columns. Photo. ETA: That particular size seems to be simply a de facto standard for the candles and for the menorahs.
As for clerks not knowing about them . . .
Just try finding Matzah around Passover time in communities without a large Jewish community. I tried that in Fresno and elsewhere in the San Joaquin Valley. A few stores had maybe one variety of one brand, quickly sold out. Good luck finding a clerk who knew what it is. Some of them thought I was asking for masa and led me to the Hispanic foods sections.
Yes, because it’s a total perversion of the spirit to pronounce ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ with a voiceless velar fricative.
There’s a difference between the voiceless velar fricative and the voiceless uvular fricative.:
Yes. Trill the rasp and make your saliva do the shimmy.