Holidays and Celebrations

Thanksgivukkah, The Rarest Holiday

This year, Thanksgiving falls on the first day of the Festival of Lights, a rare combination that won't happen again for nearly 80,000 years.

Thanksgivukkah, The Rarest Holiday
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Happy Thanksgivukkah! And enjoy it while it lasts, because we’ll have to wait nearly 80 millenia for the next one.

This year, Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 28 which happens to be the first day of the Festival of Lights, pitting the turkey against the dreidel for the first time since 1899.

The once-in-a-lifetime combination has spurred everything from never-before-seen greeting cards to the menurkey. The $50 specialty menorah is good for one day only, but very festive. (Via Thanksgivukkah Boston)

No, really. After lighting the menurkey this year, you can go ahead and put it away… for a very long time.

One writer for Wired guesses that by next Thanksgivukkah, the world will be cold, strange and ruled by super turkeys.

“This festive overlap is rarer than a planetary alignment, having occurred just a couple times in history ... this is basically the last Thanksgivukkah that will happen for more than 75,000 years.”

 

So why is this the first and last Thanksgivukkah of our lifetimes? Because the Jewish calendar is getting slightly out of sync with the solar cycle — and by slightly, we mean four days every 1,000 years.

Unchanged, that means some experts believe the next time the Jewish calendar lines up like this will be in the year 79,811.

Fortunately, Adam Sandler has songs about both celebrations, so your holiday playlist is off to a good start.

And Buzzfeed has a full meal’s worth of recipes that combine the best of both traditions, from latkes with cranberry applesauce to a Manizchewitz-brined roast turkey.

​Happy celebrating! Hope it’s the best Thanksgivukkah ever! Well… you get it.