‘Elena of Avalor’ Will Feature Jewish Latino Culture This Coming Hanukkah
(Photo : flickr.com)

Calling all Latino Disney fans!

Award-winning Disney series Elena of Avalor's "Festival of Lights" episode which will be aired this upcoming Hanukkah will focus on Jewish Latino culture.

In this episode, the queen-in-the-making, who runs the Latin American-inspired kingdom of Avalor opens the doors of her kingdom to the shipwrecked Princess Rebeca and her grandmother, Miriam. The two have come from Galonia, a Jewish Latino-inspired kingdom. In their encounters, Elena will learn about the kingdom's celebration of the eight nights of Hanukkah and their importance to the Jewish community.

Hanukkah, also called Feast of Dedication, Festival of Lights, or Feast of the Maccabees, is a Jewish festival that reaffirms the ideals of Judaism. It is an eight-day celebration that begins on Kislev 25.

The celebration highlights the lighting the menorah, a candelabra with eight branches plus a holder for the shammash candle that is used to light the other eight candles on each day of the festival. A blessing is also offered while each candles are lit. Although not directly mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, Hanukkah came to be one of the widely celebrated and most popular Jewish religious observances.

The voice sopranos actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who is a Jewish Latina, will give life to the character of Rebeca, while Tovah Feldshun who also starred in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Star Wars Resistance, will voice the character of Miriam.

Disney's first ever Latina princess Elena of Avalor is the only fictional character named as one of People en Español's 2016 "25 Mujeres Más Poderosas". It also marked the first time a Disney character has made the list. In the past years, the annual list has included Jennifer Lopez, Carmen Salinas, Eva Longoria, and Rosie Perez. In a previous interview, Craig Gerber, Elena of Avalor's creator and executive producer stressed his desire of creating a character "who could be a really good role model and who would embody the traits of leadership that children could admire and follow. This character is not someone who is perfect but someone whose heart is in the right place. Who's courageous, bold and resourceful."

With its purpose of educating its viewers. "Festival of Lights" episode is not an exemption. This will straighten out the common misconception of the public towards Hanukkah being similar as the Christmas celebration. According to Time, despite the similar dates, the festival of Hanukkah occurs on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Meanwhile Christians celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. Both of these holidays were instituted during the Greco-Roman rule, but are 200 years apart from each other. 

More importantly, the episode will help paint a broader picture of the Latino communities. While most people think that all Latinos and Latin Americans as Catholic, there also exist Jewish Latinos and Latin Americans.

Gerber stressed the importance of Elena of Avalor in showcasing the diversity of Latin and Hispanic cultures. He added that "As we were coming up with ideas for the new holiday episode, we decided to focus on Hanukkah and a part of the culture that we hadn't yet represented on the show.

Elena of Avalor's "Festival of Lights" will be airing on Disney Channel and the DisneyNow on December 6 at 12:30 p.m. E.T./P.T.