I write on astronomy and spaceflight for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC. There are plenty of wire stories on the rareity of Hanukkah starting on Christmas 2024. But I wanted to see just how rare this is. A look across 2000 years beginning with the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, found about 3% of Hanukkahs starting on Christmas day.
Because the Hebrew days start at sundown the previous day, it’s worth looking at Christmas Eve where slighly more Hanukkahs overlap with Christnas.
Hanukkah usually falls in December but can be as early as late November creating the even rarer Thanksgivukkah. The misalignment of the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar that causes the variance here accumulates sufficeintly to push Hanukah in to January beginining in the 3030s.
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I write on astronomy and spaceflight for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC. There are plenty of wire stories on the rareity of Hanukkah starting on Christmas 2024. But I wanted to see just how rare this is. A look across 2000 years beginning with the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, found about 3% of Hanukkahs starting on Christmas day.
Because the Hebrew days start at sundown the previous day, it’s worth looking at Christmas Eve where slighly more Hanukkahs overlap with Christnas.
Hanukkah usually falls in December but can be as early as late November creating the even rarer Thanksgivukkah. The misalignment of the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar that causes the variance here accumulates sufficeintly to push Hanukah in to January beginining in the 3030s.
* Tools used: Python, Matplotlib, convertdate
* Other sources of information: National Archives notes on the date of Thanksgiving dates https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/11/20/thanksgiving-as-a-federal-holiday/
* Source code: https://github.com/rtphokie/hanukkah_christmas_date
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