Christmas Around the World - U.S.A.

On the last day of our "trip", we came back to the United States. On the
way home, we visited Hawaii, California, and Washington, D.C.

We learned that people in Hawaii say, "Mele Kalikimaka"
(Meh-leh Kah-lee-kee-mah-kah) to wish others a Merry Christmas!

In Hawaii, Santa arrives by boat at some of the beaches.
In California, Santa may sweep in on a surf board at the beaches.
In Washington, D.C., the President presses a button to turn on the lights
to a National Christmas Tree.

When we arrived back in Alabama, we learned that Alabama was the very
first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday in 1836 (170 years ago).
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After learning these little facts about Christmas in the United States, Miss
Fulghum began to teach us about a religious holiday called Hanukkah that
is celebrated by people who are Jewish.

Hanukkah last eights days. They use a special candle holder called a
menorah (meh-nor-ah). Miss Fulghum brought a real menorah to class so we
would know what one looks like. We noticed that the menorah holds nine
candles, not eight.

Miss Fulghum read a story to us called "Sammy Spider's First Hanukkah" by
Sylvia A. Rouss and Katherine Janus Kahn. That's when we learned why
there are nine candles. The ninth candle is called the shamash or helper
candle. This is the candle that is used to light all the other candles
each night of Hanukkah.

We also learned why the dreidel game is so important. Long years ago,
Jewish people were not allowed to pray and worship as they chose. They
would get in trouble if they were caught praying, so someone created the
dreidel game.

They would pray. When someone heard or saw someone coming, they would
start playing with the dreidels so no one would know what they were really
doing. The idea worked.

Miss Fulghum taught us what the symbols on the dreidel mean, and she
taught us how to play the dreidel game. We had a lot of fun playing. 
Miss Fulghum gave each of us a dreidel to take home and instructions on
how to play the game in case we forgot later.

A traditional Hanukkah dish is potato latkes with apple sauce. That was
our special snack for the day. Happy Hanukkah!