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How to celebrate Chanukah in London
Beginning at sundown on Sunday, 14 December, Chanukah, aka ‘festival of lights’, is just that – a festival rather than a holiday, steeped in religious worship. The eight-consecutive-night event focuses on celebrating small, seemingly insignificant, victories and everyday miracles. Represented by several symbolic items, including a nine-branched hanukkiah (or menorah, the more generic term which refers to a candelabrum of any kind) with eight candles representing each night of celebration, plus one ‘helper candle’ or shamash that lights them all, each individual light can illuminate the darkness, especially when brought together as a collective.
Over the years, I’ve collected numerous traditions around this festival, including a staple making of fried latkes from a variety of ingredients, from potato to carrot, served hot alongside dips of sour cream and apple sauce that have followed me from childhood into the present. As many multi-cultural families do, our Chanukah celebrations have changed over the years as my non-Jewish husband and I have navigated the blending of our holidays, foods, traditions and celebrations, making sure there was room for all without hierarchy. We’ve since reserved the traditional Chanukah gift-giving for our Jewish grandparents rather than the whole family, turning instead to food and rituals for our festival celebrations. With fried foods and the centre of the holiday, this means inviting friends to partake in latkes fried in oil. The oil represents the oil found that lasted for eight nights rather than just one or two, as part of the rededication of the desecrated Second Temple in Jerusalem circa 168 BCE. Each year, the smell of oil and deep-fried potatoes clings to the walls of our home, hair and clothing for days afterwards, but it always feels worth the effort, no matter how long it lingers.
In 2020, my family added to our rituals in a way that will forever change how I think about the festival. Deep in the throes of the pandemic, in the midst of social distancing, freezing cold weather, and darkness, we took our hanukkiah outside to the waist-high brick wall separating our home from the pavement. Our neighbours, a family of three with a daughter just a year younger than ours, who had become a source of grounding during those unsettling times, met us outside on the opposite side of that brick wall. There in the darkness, we each lit a candle. The wind and rain wouldn’t let them stay lit for long – the tradition being to let the candles burn down completely rather than blow them out – but for a few brief moments, there they were all lit together. There we were, standing in the darkness on the pavement, wrapped up in coats and scarves, mesmerised by the light. So much so, we replicated it the following year, and the year after, gathering outside even when we were once again able to return to each other’s homes
Gathering, cooking and eating remain at the centre of Chanukah celebrations across London and far beyond the M25, too.
Cooking and frying
Jewish children everywhere may remember the smells and sounds of lingering in the kitchen as Chanukah festivities got underway, eye level with the fry pan laden with oil, alive with the sizzling sounds of whatever was deep-fried on the go. You don’t have to be Jewish or a child to conjure up these feelings of eager anticipation this Chanukah, thanks to folks like Syrian-born Ukrainian historian, author and cook Alissa Timoshkina. Timoshkina will be hosting a cooking class at her home on 7 December, featuring Chanukah-themed dishes from her latest book, Kapusta, including latkes, knishes, beetroot dips and pickles, and spiced apple cinnamon buns. You can book a place via her Instagram page. You can also catch her at Panzers Deli on 14th December from 11-2pm where she’ll be selling and signing copies of her new book alongside freshly fried spiced apple cinnamon doughnuts. Don’t forget to pick up some of their hand-cut cured salmon to top any of your own latke endeavours.
