#chanukahomens

[wasleichtesart]

Look, Angel! I’m winning!

Happy Chanukah! I had another idea for the blue/white/silver prompt of @5ftjewishcactus ‘s Chanukah Omens List but I realised that I wasn’t able to achive the vision I had. So take this lil snek playing with a dreidel :) I Have a wonderful last day of Chanukah, people!

#good omens #crowley #snake crowley #chanukahomens #anthony j crowley #Anthony Crowley #snek crowley #dreidel #menorah #chanukah #traditional art #aquarelle #watercolour #animals #snake #snake illustration #snake art #i was very excited to get out the silver colour!

[haileythesato]

annual Chanukah fanart from @5ftjewishcactus‘ Chanukah Omens 2020 prompts.

December 14th - Latkes and Sufganyot (Food)

Also I think this is the first kiss i’ve drawn???? it’s like a cheeky side kiss but still... a milestone for me. Happy Chanukah!

#chanukahomens #good omens #jewish omens #im not jewish myself #some of my fam is and i like hearing about the traditions

[anonymousdandelion]

Crowley and Aziraphale meet Hershel of Ostropol

As usual this time each year, I reread the wonderful work of classic Jewish children’s literature that is Eric Kimmel’s Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. And then afterwards (also as usual these days), my brain drifted to thinking about Good Omens.

I'd probably try to turn the resulting thoughts into a niche crossover fic, except I’m still very much out of creative writing mode, so that probably won’t happen. So instead: Tumblr rambles that will probably mean nothing to anyone but me!

Because, see, I can’t help thinking that Crowley would have very much admired Hershel of Ostropol, in all his trickster glory. I mean, really. Just look at Hershel’s shenanigans, his sense of humor, his sheer audacity. The man’s wiles! Crowley is definitely a fan.

(Aziraphale might pretend to be disapproving of some of Hershel’s methods. But something tells me he in fact has his own sense of appreciation for a clever, incorrigible prankster.)

As for the goblins, haunting the old synagogue and ruining Chanukah? It’s no great stretch of the imagination to say these are demons. Mostly lower-ranking ones, presumably (with the obvious exception of the king who shows up on the final night); looking at Trina Schart Hyman’s vivid illustrations, Hell’s Usher from GO would fit right in with the crowd.

(Side note: I imagine they don’t have pickles in Hell, so I can’t help but feel some sympathy for Eric’s big, green, overdramatic, pickle-deprived waddling cousin. Despite everything, I do hope Crowley will bring down a jar for the poor fellow sometime.)

Now, back to the fic that I probably won’t write... well, first I was trying to figure out what role Crowley and/or Aziraphale might play in Hershel’s showdowns against the goblins. Does Crowley help Hershel out? Give tips on how to defeat his own goblin/demon coworkers? Does Aziraphale join in the attempt to protect the holiday? Do both of them work on it together? Does Crowley have to be a reluctant collaborator with the goblins? Does the Arrangement come into play?

...But then I realized it would feel truer to both canon source materials if in fact Hershel still pulls off his victory single-handed, just as he does in today’s telling of the story, while Aziraphale and Crowley bicker in the background while waiting around with the rest of the villagers and making no difference at all.

(They’d both have liked to do something to help, really, they would, it’s just that Aziraphale did a few too many anticipatory small-scale oil-extending, dreidel-charming, and latke-multiplying miracles elsewhere recently, and so he’s at the end of his budget for the time being.)

(And Crowley, of course, can’t exactly go sticking his neck out to publicly challenge his own coworkers. There’s always the possibility that he is a, perhaps reluctant, collaborator in the haunting himself.)

(Though at this point he is seriously considering sticking his neck out anyway, consequences be blessed, if Aziraphale complains one more time about the lack of latkes...)

Fortunately, Hershel comes through to save the day on his own — unaided by any forces save his trademark brand of craftiness, Chanukah candles, a few eggs and pickles and a dreidel, and of course an extra-sized serving of raw chutzpah.

And when Hershel finally returns to the village on the last night of Chanukah, he doesn’t even know he isn’t the only non-local there tonight. He doesn’t know that among the throngs of people waiting to welcome him back with latke-laden platters, hanging around on the outskirts and exchanging smiles, are an angel and a demon. He doesn’t need to know that.

But it’s possible, just possible, that a little demonic miracle or two might have helped make sure that Hershel of Ostropol and and his escapades would not be forgotten. It’s possible, just possible, that an off-the-record angelic blessing helped safeguard his legacy, to be preserved in jokes and tales.

And so, today, Hershel’s adventures are remembered, retold, and passed on for future generations to read and hear and laugh over together, as the villagers’ descendants gather once again around the menorah to celebrate another triumph of tradition and the spirit of Chanukah.

(I suppose this post can count as my accidental contribution to @5ftjewishcactus‘s Chanukah Omens 2021 event, since it ended up incorporating several of the prompts.)

#jumblr #good omens #hershel and the hanukkah goblins #crossover #aziraphale and crowley #hershel of ostropol #jewish omens #jewish good omens #ChanukahOmens #judaism #jewish folklore #chanukah #eric kimmel #prompts #dandelion prompts #good omens prompts #not!fic #dandelion says #random musings #that got longer than expected

[asparklethatisblue]

Happy First Day of Chanukah!! First prompt of ChanukahOmens is "Tradition", and I really love the familiar comfort of the same little things every single year. The food, the set up of decorations... It's marvelous 

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#ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #good omens #chanukahomens #my art #chanukah

[lazarusemma]

(Again written for @5ftjewishcactus’s wonderful Chanukah Omens prompts! Tonight’s prompt: dreidel.)

Read it on AO3!

“You’re cheating,” Aziraphale says, but he’s smiling.

“Why would I cheat?” Crowley protests. “Not like the stakes are high enough to be worth it.”

The stakes are not, in fact, very high: only a handful of chocolate coins already going soft in their shiny golden wrappings. Aziraphale lays a protective hand over his scant winnings. “Well. Perhaps it’s simply in your nature.”

Crowley crosses his arms as though he has been deeply offended. “You think I’m incapable of playing an honest game?”

Aziraphale touches his shoulder. “Of course not, my dear,” he says, and Crowley smiles until he adds, “I’m merely suggesting that you don’t want to play fair.”

“Pffft,” says Crowley, who has been miracling his spins to land on gimmel about half the time, “where’s the fun in a rigged game?”

Aziraphale attempts a frown. It goes poorly, and Crowley laughs until Aziraphale does too. “I suppose you would have to tell me that, really,” he says. “Is it really so enjoyable to deprive me of my chocolates?”

“Ohhh,” says Crowley, tipping his head. “I wouldn’t say I’m planning on depriving you of them, y’know. Never been much for sweets myself.”

“Then--” Aziraphale narrows his eyes. “What is your devious plan, serpent?”

Crowley grins, a sharp and wicked thing, and Aziraphale kisses his cheek. “I have been doing a fair bit of thinking,” Crowley says, and nods solemnly as Aziraphale pretends to be shocked at this news. “I know, I know, dangerous activity. But I was thinking what I’d do with all this chocolate I’ll have won, and it seems to me, y’see, there’s really just one thing for it.”

“And what’s that?”

Crowley takes Aziraphale’s hand and brings it to his lips. “It occurs to me,” he says, “that I may know someone who enjoys chocolates far more than I do.”

Aziraphale smiles, a soft thing, happiness bright in his eyes. “Is that so?”

“Mhm. So if you’ll take your turn, angel, I think it’ll only be a few more rounds before I’ve got all the coins and we can set this plan into motion.”

So Aziraphale picks up his dreidel, a lovely golden thing they bought together last year, and blows on it for luck. It’s a silly custom, and Crowley has never missed an opportunity to poke fun at it, but maybe it works, or maybe someone’s slipped in a sneaky miracle (and who could say which of them it was?) because when it wobbles and topples it’s gimmel side up. Aziraphale beams and scoops the pile towards himself, and he’s making some comment about how he might be harder to defeat than Crowley bargained for, and Crowley’s laughing and arguing in all the right places, and everything is exactly as it should be.

#good omens #ChanukahOmens #tumblr fic #fanfiction #ineffable husbands #crowley x aziraphale #crowley #aziraphale x crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #my writing #jewish omens #em og post #fic: we know the score #i know. another queen lyric title. shocking

[hkblack]

I am doing the thing!  I’m trying to break myself of writing massive unwieldy beasts, and also perfectionism to the point of paralysis. And what better way to do that then to participate in a prompt list? Here’s my first entry for the Chanukah Omens prompt list, which you should all check out.  I’m not Jewish, so I figure most of my stories will be about a Celestial and Occult being observing from the outside. But isn’t that what they do best anyway? 

#ChanukahOmens #good omens #fanfic

[writingordinaryrealities]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Warlock Dowling, Original Characters Additional Tags: Hanukkah celebrations, Warlock makes friends, Post-Canon, genderqueer Warlock Summary:

Warlock tries to articulate what Hanukkah looked like when Nanny and Brother Francis celebrated it.

#ChanukahOmens #Good Omens #Hanukkah #Warlock Dowling

[asparklethatisblue]

You know what's scary? Sizzling oil and latkes. Not even immortal beings can shake that terror

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#chanukahomens #good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #my art #the jewish side of tumblr

[lazarusemma]

(Written for @5ftjewishcactus’s wonderful Chanukah Omens prompts! I missed the first few days, so this is a bit of a catch-up until today’s prompt: Tradition, Blessings, Flame, Sufganiyot, Chanukiah. Translations for the italicized Hebrew beneath the cut.)

EDIT: now on AO3 here!

It’s silly, maybe. To get so excited over what amounts to low-level arson, just setting something on fire and then having pastries about it. But tradition is tradition and Crowley likes that Aziraphale likes it. The ritual of it, the celebration. Something about the symbolism of light in darkness, tiny flames against the winter cold. (He’ll never admit he likes it too. He’s just here for the food, and never mind that he doesn’t even like jelly.)

Aziraphale holds the tip of the candle out to him and Crowley flicks it into fire, nothing profane about it, just a chemical reaction of oxygen and carbon. “Thank you,” Aziraphale says quietly, smiling, and begins the blessing. “Baruch atah...”

The room brightens. An angel’s blessing is no small thing. Crowley’s feet should be aching; it shouldn’t be this easy for him to stay here, so close, and to hear these words. But he is welcome here. This is something he can have, holy though it is, because they promised this place would be their home, and so it is his. There is no scorching heat, only a gentleness, a soft warmth in his chest.

The second blessing comes to an end, ba’zman hazeh, and in this time everything is golden as Aziraphale touches the flame to each wick and they watch it reach hungrily for the oil; Crowley whispers, “Amen,” and oh, it tastes right on his tongue, isn’t that something?

“C’mon,” he says, laying a hand on Aziraphale’s shoulder when the correct number of branches for tonight have been lit. “We’ve still got doughnuts from last night, haven’t we?”

“Ooh, yes,” says Aziraphale, wiggling. He beams. “Don’t think I didn’t see you put yours back untouched, by the way.”

Crowley pokes out his tongue. “Sufganiyot. Sticky,” he says, as though that explains everything, and leads Aziraphale away from the table and towards the kitchen. “Are you going to sing again?”

“You know the words as well as I do, and don’t even try to pretend otherwise.” Aziraphale prods his arm. “Sing with me?”

He does know the words. He ought to, as resident tzar ham’nabeach, as audience to a divine shir mizmor; Crowley can recall the events of Maoz Tzur as clearly as Aziraphale can, and so the lyrics aren’t difficult to call to mind. But he likes to hear Aziraphale sing it. “You do it better,” he says, “all that heavenly choir practice.”

Aziraphale hides a smile unsuccessfully. “Tomorrow night, then,” he decides, and begins to sing as he fetches the doughnuts and dreidels, as the chanukiah flickers familiar shadows on the wall, spilling light into the street through the window, proclaiming: A great miracle happened here. Here and now and then and there, in those times as in these, for us as well as them. Every year past the end of the world is a miracle. Every day spent together is a miracle.

Not all miracles are flashy: small jugs outlasting all hope, seas splitting open, columns of flame in the desert night. Sometimes a miracle is something quieter. An unexpected victory against unassailable odds. One hand in another. The promise of tomorrow.

Baruch atah... - “blessed are You,” the start of a blessing, in this case that which is said before lighting the menorah

Ba’zman hazeh - “in this time,” the last words of the second blessing said before lighting the menorah

Amen - yes this is just amen which even non-Hebrew speakers know but I think it’s worth pointing out that the Hebrew root for the word means “faith”

Sufganiyot - jelly doughnuts, a Chanukah staple

Tzar ham’nabeach - “the blaspheming foe,” part of the lyrics to Maoz Tzur (see below)

Shir mizmor - “a song of hymn,” from the following line of Maoz Tzur

Maoz Tzur - a Chanukah song typically sung after lighting the menorah which celebrates victory over a succession of oppressors throughout ancient Jewish stories.

Chanukiah - the more technically correct term for the menorah lit on Chanukah, with 9 branches and not the 7 of the Temple’s menorah

(Not quite Hebrew but worth mentioning: A great miracle happened here is a translation of the slogan Nes Gadol Haya Po, which is what the letters on a dreidel stand for, as a reminder of the Chanukah story. Also, in those times as in these is a vague translation of part of the second blessing as mentioned above.)

#ChanukahOmens #good omens #chanukah #jewish omens #fanfiction #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #aziracrow #my writing #tonight we dine at self indulgence #goyim can rb but i didn't write it for y'all #fic: it's a miracle #i know. another queen lyric title. shocking

[hkblack]

I’ve posted my final entry to the Chanukah Omens 2021 prompt list.  You can find it here: A Light in the Darkness: Our Own Community I’ve really enjoyed writing for this prompt event for several reasons.  First, I am very newly back into the fandom groove of things. And forcing myself to just throw things at the wall and write without overthinking was fun, and needed. It was great to take the first thought that came to head and run with it, and remind myself that “you can stop writing now, that’s an easy natural conclusion, don’t force it.” Actually, I think the ability to do that got me over some block I was having with my big WIPS, but we’re not going to look too closely at that right now, because also I think beta’ing for the DIWS gift exchange has been a huge help in that too.  Second, this final piece in particular makes me feel some feelings. My family has not ever been super religious, and has a habit of leaving the nest early, and not really returning. So there’s not a lot of extended family hoop-lah The big happy communities of people gathering in Winter for whatever holiday they celebrate has not been something I’ve ever been lucky enough to really have and hold. Whether that’s Chanukah or Christmas (even a secular Christmas!), I’ve always felt like an outsider looking in.  I knew I’d have an ally in Crowley in writing from this “Outsider looking in” perspective, and I think his attempt at a Prayer from one of the first days of this prompt list really solidified that for me.  What I wasn’t expecting was for Aziraphale to bring it on home at the end and showing a different type of outsider. Where Crowley tries a few times and otherwise accepts “that’s not for me” Aziraphale desperately longs for it to be for him. My partner asked me if I felt more like I identify with Crowley or Aziraphale once and my response was “what day is it?” because I think for me, it waffles. Sometimes I over decorate like Aziraphale, other times I just let it wash over me and create my own thing like Crowley. And I think that’s pretty cool.  Anyway, sappy feelings DONE. I really loved writing for this prompt list, and I hope that if there’s anyone else out there feeling a bit like an outsider during the holiday season, you’re able to find your own community.

#ChanukahOmens #outsider looking in