Keep this 70-year tradition strictly for Christmas. This is all pretty charming and interesting I wonder if any other garment has been able to do such an about face.īut for Hanukkah. It displayed your faith in a silly way and the bigger, the brighter, the sillier the better. No longer ironic, it was something to laugh with, not at. What began as hipster irony somehow turned a corner a few years later and it, the ugly sweater, became its own commodity. RELATED: Stop dressing like your kids – it's weird, sad and kind of creepy The first Ugly Christmas Sweater Party was held in 2002, and nearly 20 years later, they're still going strong all over the country. And as they fell out of favor, hipsters recovered them, as they are wont to do. By the 1980s and '90s, people were finally realizing that the Christmas sweaters were the great equalizer a dutiful expression of love. Of itchy, uncomfortable, unfortunate, ill-fitting love. The Ugly Freaking Christmas Sweater.īeginning around 1950, women began to knit "Jingle Ball Sweaters" to give people a festive look for a holiday that was becoming more and more commercialized. The worst of the bizarre mash-ups? The Christmas Sweater. But it demonstrates it has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus' birth – what Christmas celebrates. Is this a very simplified explanation? Of course. And while Hanukkah and Christmas both occur near the Winter Solstice, they celebrate vastly different things.Īn eight-night long celebration, Hanukkah commemorates that the oil from a destroyed temple lasted for eight nights instead of one. Because of that, although they are not comparable, Easter and Passover are linked. Our holidays aren't remotely similar to Christians' holidays they only occur around the same time because one affects the other. We don't need the same thing you're selling, just tweaked for one holiday instead of another. We don't need a Mench on a Bench or a Shmelf the Hannukah elf to compete with your Elf on a Shelf, although they might be useful for Interfaith families. Not truly offensive like when Shein tried to sell a swastika necklace, but demoralizing for sure. It's so easy to get things right that it's offensive when products are wrong. You shouldn't just repackage a Christmas item as a Hanukkah one – it usually doesn't even make sense. When it comes to selling holiday products, Jews are often an afterthought. Isn't it better to be acknowledged? you might wonder. RELATED: I fought (and lost) the battle against Christmas It's also a great way to tout inclusivity without actually demonstrating it. So why do so many corporations produce wrong, ignorant items for sale? Because they don't care about getting things right – just about getting things sold, although I don't know who is buying these things. Willing to reward a token of inclusivity with our money. And that's OK! However, within the last two decades, retailers have realized they had been ignoring a similar, yet untapped market: Jewish holidays, Hanukkah specifically.Īlthough many large corporations have begun catering to their Jewish clientele, unfortunately, because the options have been limited for so long, we're expected to be satisfied that companies are acknowledging us. Nothing can compete with the behemoth that is Christmas. Stop trying to sell us dumb products.Ĭhristmas is its own billion-dollar industry. So pay attention retailers: knock it off. It never was and shouldn't be treated like it is.
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