A satiric term for the merging of December holiday traditions within a mixed-faith family, or by a person who celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah. Chrismukkah is also an ironic,
alternative winter holiday, much like the Seinfeld-derived "Festivus."
The term has been used by some in the Jewish community as a wry commentary on the growing commercialization of Hanukkah in reaction to the dominance of Christmas in
American culture.
In 2005, the Jewish Museum of Berlin presented a show called Chrismukkah and sourced it's origin to assimilated German-Jews of the late
1800s who called the holiday "Weihnukkah." Weihnachten is the German word for Christmas.
In the
United States, Chrismukkah caught on in the late 1990s after a faux press release written by school teacher Michael Nathanson was read on NPR's Car Talk. It was widely circulated through email and Internet joke websites. Chrismukkah gained pop-culture fame after being featured in the FOX television program The O.C. A character Seth Cohen is often mistakenly credited with "inventing" Chrismukkah.
