Hanukkah in Zurich 2011
December 20th marked the first night of Hanukkah and regardless of your religion, Zuri Girl has your guide on how to celebrate this year.
There are 2 Candle Lighting Festivities this week, one in Zurich and one in Luzern. In Zurich, gather with friends and family to see the six-meter-high giant Menorah candle lighting followed with a greeting by Zurich City Council Representative, Daniel Leupi.
- Date: Thursday, 22 December
- Time: 18.00
- Location: Hechtplatz
- Cost: Free
- Additional Information: Switzerland Chabad
If you are up for a night out, trek down to Luzern to see the other giant menorah lighting and enjoy a traditional drink for the holiday, vodka, along with sufiganot (donuts) and latkes at the After Party.
- Date: Thursday, 22 December
- Time: 17:30pm
- Location: the Luzern Bahnhofplatz (station square)
- Cost: Free. Donations welcome for After Party. CHF 10 for Adults / CHF 5 for Children
- Additional Information: For Registration contact: Chabad Lubavitch Tel: +41-41-361-1770 / email: info@ChabadLuzern.com. Switzerland Chabad
Not excited to brave the snow, throw your own party and celebrate at home. Find necessary items at these Zurich shops:
- Buy menorah and other supplies at Books and Bagels megastore for Judaica or visit Chabad for a free hannukiah and candles.
- Get your kosher food at Kosher City
- Find latkes supplies and even donut supplies at Globus and Jelmoli. Hanukkah is all about miracles, one of which is the miracle of oil, hence the oil cooked sufiganot and latkes.
Learn more at United with Israel
If you don’t celebrate the holiday, but want to wish a friend a Happy Hanukkah here are several ways to say it. You can spell Hanukkah or Chanukah as it’s transliterated from Hebrew. No worries there: Chanukah Sameach (Happy Chanukah); Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday) Multipurpose and much better than L’chaim which means “to life”, and it is used often for toasting. Also, mazeltov means congratulations colloquially but is literally good luck; A Freilichin Chanukah (Happy Chanukah in Yiddish); Glücklich Chanukah (you guessed it, German!)
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Contributed by Zuri Girl: Alyssa Pinsker writing to you from home in New York City where there is no shortage of Hanukkah parties or supplies, you can also find her on Facebook.
*Photo credit: The Corcoran Group
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