On Day 6 we learned about the folklore regarding the dreidel and I promised that today we would learn how to play the game. If you didn't visit the day 6 posting, I'd recommend that you read that first.
As we discussed, dreidels are four sided spinning tops used to play a game of chance. Dreidels have four Hebrew letters on them, one on each side. Here is a picture of four wooden children's dreidels, each showing one of the Hebrew letters. They are (from right to left - remember that's how Hebrew is read!):
First is the letter Nun
Second is the letter Gimel
Third is the letter Hey
Fourth is the letter Shin.
Together these letters together stand for the phrase: "Nes gadol haya sham", which means "A great miracle happened there."
***Fun fact: Interestingly enough, since the great miracle occurred in Jerusalem, which is of course in Israel, if you play dreidel (or sivivon as it is known in Hebrew) in Israel, the fourth letter is different! In Israel, instead of the Shin there is a Peh which changes the saying to Nes gadol haya po which translates to "A great miracle happened HERE." ***
To play the dreidel game, all you need in addition to the dreidel is some "gelt" or Hanukkah money. In the past, dreidel - a game of chance - may have been played for actual money but these days gelt usually refers to chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil! Even though we had chocolate gelt in the 60s, my brothers and I often played it for pennies (yeah, real high stakes! LOL). The rules are rather simple.
1. At the beginning of the game, every participant gets an equal number of gelt and puts one gelt into the center “pot.” In addition, any time the pot is empty or has only one gelt left, every player puts one gelt in the pot.
2. Each player spins the dreidel in turn.
If the dreidel lands with the Nun side up - the player does nothing
If the dreidel lands with the Gimel side up - the player takes everything in the pot
If the dreidel lands with the Hey side up - the player gets half of the pot
If the dreidel lands with the Shin side up - the player adds a gelt to the pot.
3. If you have no gelt left, you are out (although very little kids are often given a "loan" LOL)
4. The winner is the person who has all the gelt at the end of the game.
Since we learned about the Hebrew letters that are used to play the dreidel game, your challenge is going to be to use those letters for the title of your page!! I want to see a single word title that starts with one of the dreidel letters: "N" (nun), "G" (gimel), "H" (hey), "S" (shin) - and I'll even throw in the Israeli "P" (peh).
Here is my example - my DH and I on a New Orleans dinner and jazz cruise on the Mississippi. The title "Natchez" (the name of the steamboat) uses the "N" for "nun".
Now the boring stuff for Hanukkah Day 7.
1) The title of your layout must be a SINGLE WORD starting with one of the dreidel letters. N, G, H, S. or P.
2) You may combine with one other monthly challenge that permits it, but you may NOT submit the same layout for 2 different Hanukkah challenges.
3) Only one submission, per person, per challenge.
4) Entries must be new single or double page layouts and may be digital or paper. Cards are NOT permitted for this challenge.
5) Entries for HANUKKAH DAY SEVEN - TITLE CHALLENGE must be posted to this thread by 1/31/25 at midnight.
6) MOST IMPORTANT: I hope that you learn something and that you HAVE FUN!
