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Happy Thanksgivukkah High Country! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and the First Day of Hanukkah

by Madison V. Fisler

Nov. 27, 2013. This is the first time it’s happened since 1888, and it won’t happen again for another 79,000 years by many estimates. Tomorrow marks the first day of Hanukkah, as well as Thanksgiving Day. What are the odds?

imgresThe “once-in-a-lifetime” holiday is being marked by Jewish citizens all across the United States by decorating their homes with turkey menorahs known as “menurkies” and dreidels decorated with birds known as turkels to commemorate the special event, the Associated Press reports.

The Jewish calendar uses a 12-month lunar-solar calendar that occasionally contains an extra month which causes the dates of holidays to fluctuate from year to year. Secular dates that follow the Gregorian calendar also change, and in 2013, the holidays are very early.

The date of Thanksgiving also changes from year to year, as it is always celebrated on the last Thursday in November. It is because of the variability of these calendars that the dates came to coincide.

So while you’re munching Turkey on Thanksgiving Day, be sure to give a kind word to your friends of the Jewish faith and commemorate the day with a hearty “happy Thanksgivukkah!”