Hanukkah
The Festival of Lights, eight nights of candle lighting and celebration.
Hanukkah begins on 25 Kislev in the Hebrew calendar and lasts eight nights, usually starting in December and occasionally in late November. The first candle is lit on the evening it begins.
When Is Hanukkah?
Hanukkah begins on 25 Kislev in the Hebrew calendar and lasts eight nights, usually starting in December and occasionally in late November. The first candle is lit on the evening it begins.
Because the Gregorian date changes from year to year, check a calendar published by the tradition or your local community for this year's date.
Why It Matters
Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (164 BCE) after it was desecrated by the Seleucid Empire, and, according to the Talmud, the miracle of a single day's supply of oil lasting eight days.
How It Is Observed
Lighting the Hanukkiah (9-branched menorah), one candle per night plus the shamash. Playing dreidel, eating fried foods (latkes, sufganiyot), exchanging gifts, singing songs.
Sacred Text
“Moreover Judas and his brethren with the whole congregation of Israel ordained, that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with mirth and gladness.”
, 1 Maccabees 4:59 ↗