First Sunday of Advent and Hanukkah

Today is the first Sunday of Advent!

ad•vent (ad’ vent) n. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.

The advent season is a time of expectant waiting. We look forward with excitement to the celebration of Christmas; we wait for the return of longer days after the solstice; and we anticipate the arrival of grace in our hearts.

Grace is a state of being - at peace, free, filled with love & light.

I'll fill the next weeks with decorating, baking, buying gifts, and singing songs... but enfolding the busyness is the simple, deep peace and love of advent. I wait, anticipate, and learn again that transformation is a slow process.

Tonight is also the first night of the eight day Jewish holiday known as the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is observed beginning 3 days before the new moon closest to the winter solstice, at the darkest part of the moon phase and the darkest part of the sun phase.

Agenda today:
1. Journal queries
2. Plan activities to express my unity with nature

3. Prepare for Hanukkah
4. Make potato latkes
5. Hanukia Ceremony

6. Advent wreath ceremony

1. Journal queries:

Advent is a time set aside each year to come into contact with my own need for grace. Today I ask:

Where in my life do I need greater peace, love, and light?
What am I waiting for this advent?
Where is my biggest need for grace?

The more I carry these questions within, and let them penetrate through the layers of distraction and self-protection, the more powerfully I will experience Advent.

2. Plan activities to express my unity with nature:
My theme for this first week of advent is to cherish and care for the earth. When my kids were young, we did earth activities together all of this week. Now I continue the tradition with my grandson.

My goal this week is to reaffirm my unity with nature. Generally, I do this by giving attention to nature, and by remembering to find joy and fulfillment in simply being alive, instead of in an excess of buying, using, and wasting.

Things I might do this week to express unity with nature:

• Spend time outdoors to get in touch with the season. Walk or bike to get places. Visit a wild area. Rake leaves, or turn the compost.
• Pay attention to the weather, the outdoor temperature, the birds, the sky, the leaves, the moon cycle.
• Learn more about the wildlife that lives in our area in the winter; find out what they eat. Learn the names of the trees in the neighborhood. Learn the names of the clouds.
• Give care to the plants and animals. Feed the wild birds. Give special attention to our ducks, cat, and dog.
• Bring nature indoors- collect greens, pine cones, straw, and other natural materials. Use natural materials to make gifts and decorations.
• Think about the lifestyle choices I make that are harmful to the earth and its creatures, and commit to living better.

3. Prepare for Hanukkah:

Hanukkah commemorates a miracle that occurred in 142 BCE, when a single vial of oil kept the temple lamp burning for eight days. I like the ancient Babylonian Talmud story that explains that Adam left Paradise just before the time of the Winter Solstice. He noticed the days getting shorter, was worried, and decided to fast and pray for eight days to try to call back the sun. But when the winter solstice arrived, and he saw the days getting gradually longer, he said, "Such is the way of the world,” and proceeded to observe eight days of festivity. 

Today I will clean up my Hanukia (otherwise known as a menorah) and check my supply of candles- we need 44 candles to last each of the 8 nights.

4. Make potato latkes:
It is traditional to eat fried foods on this holiday, because of the significance of the oil in the lamp.

Ingredients:

• 3 large potatoes
• 1 small onion
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• dash of black pepper
• 1/2 c. oil
• sour cream and applesauce

Yield: About 15 pancakes-

1- Peel the potatoes and the onion, and grate them together onto a towel. 

2- Sqeeze out as much moisture as possible, then put into the bowl.

3- Beat the eggs and stir them into the potatoes, along with the flour, salt, and black pepper.

4- Heat the oil in a frying pan, and spoon in the batter. Fry the pancakes until crispy on both sides.

5- Drain on paper towels and serve with sour cream and applesauce.

5. Hanukia Ceremony:

Hanukkah is another winter festival with the theme of light and darkness, of moving from dark despair to a place of light and hope. At sunset, I fit one candle into the Hanukia on the far right, plus a shamash (servant) candle in the center. Then I recite a blessing. Most of the traditional Hanukkah blessings don't seem appropriate for me, being not even a little bit Jewish, so I use the Blessing of Praise (Shehecheyanu), which is for the first night of anything, or any new experience:

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu v'kiy'manu v'higianu laz'man hazeh.

Blessed are You, our God, Sovereign of all, for giving us life, for sustaining us, and for enabling us to reach this season.

For a nice recording of how to pronounce this blessing in Hebrew, look here, at Interfaith Family.

I light the shamash candle and use it to light the first candle of the menorah. We let these two candles burn all the way down tonight, and continue the candle lighting for eight nights, adding another candle each night, from right to left. Note, though, that the candles are lit from left to right, because you pay honor to the newer thing first.

5. Advent wreath ceremony:

When my kids were young, I wrote four short advent prayers - one for each week - to recite together as we lit the candles. The prayers hold themes that are still meaningful for us, and we have used them ever since. This year I will again get to include my grandson in the candle ceremony! 

Tonight we light the first advent candle (the green one, for the earth), and say this prayer:

“We light the first candle for the earth, which sustains us. May we cherish and care for it.”

Each night this week, we will let this first candle burn while we eat dinner.