First lights of Menorah outside State House lit Wednesday

With the help of a basket lift, the first lanterns on a large menorah outside the State House were lit Wednesday afternoon in celebration the first night of Hanukkah.

At a ceremony in the State House courtyard led by Chabad Lubavitch of New Hampshire, attendees sang Hanukkah songs and enjoyed hot chocolate and sufganiyot, jelly donuts eaten during the holiday.

“The Menorah serves as a symbol of New Hampshire’s dedication to preserve and encourage the right and liberty of all its citizens to worship G-d freely, openly, and with pride,” said Rabbi Levi Krinsky of Chabad Lubavitch of New Hampshire in a statement. “Specifically in America, a nation that was founded upon and vigorously protects the right of every person to practice his or her religion free from restraint and persecution, the Menorah takes on profound significance, embodying both religious and constitutional principles.”

This is the first time that Hanukkah has begun on the same day as Christmas since 2005, a coinciding that happens only a few times per century.

Chabad Lubavitch hosts similar large, public menorahs around the world, including one in Burlington, Vt. and on Boston Common.

It’s been a testy year for holiday displays in New Hampshire’s capital.

Just a few hundred feet away, on the city sidewalk in front of the State House are also a Christmas Tree, a Christian nativity scene and a statue sponsored by The Satanic Temple as it marks its holiday Sol Invictus. 

As of Tuesday, The Satanic Temple’s display had been vandalized and repaired 12 times, according to Newmarket Rep. Ellen Read, who coordinated the display with the Temple. 

Concord police detained a suspect last week, were preparing to bring charges and looking into whether the vandalism should be investigated as a hate crime. But videos have circulated online of what appear to be different people vandalizing the statue, and Concord police have said they don’t have evidence linking the suspect they detained to other instances. 

At the same time, residents have been seen standing in front of the Nativity Scene at night, keeping watch over the area.

Read said Tuesday that the continued vandalism, to her, a dwindling of “basic principles of decency” in today’s society.

“Just try to understand it,” she said. “You don’t have to agree with it.”

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can follow her on X @cat_mclaugh and subscribe to her Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.