Violet
14/12/25
Hanukkah - The Festival of Lights
Hanukkah is a Jewish festival that lasts for eight days. It is a celebration of miricles and light winning over darkness.
When Hanukkah is celebrated changes. The Jewish calendar is based on the lunar calendar, which follows the Moons cycle. Usually Hanukkah starts in late November to mid December. This year Hanukkah begins this evening, December 14th and ends on December 22nd.
The story behind Hanukkah
Over 2000 years ago, a Greek Emperor called Antiochus tried to stop the Jews worshiping their God and took over their important temple in Jerusalem. He wanted them to worship Greek gods instead.
The Jews, led by a man called Judah Maccabee, fought back against King Antiochus. Finally after years of fighting, they defeated Antiochus.
When the Jews returned to the Temple of Jerusalem, they rededicated it to God. They lit a special lamp called a menorah, which was an important symbol of God’s presence in the temple. They could only find one jar of oil, which was just enough to light the menorah for one day. But instead the oil burned for eight days! The Jews believed it to be a miracle.
Hanukkah Celebrations
To celebrate the miracle of the oil burning for eight nights, Jews celebrating Hanukkah light a candles on a special candle holder, called a menorah, for eight nights. The menorah holds nine candles, one for each night, plus a candle called the shamash used to light the other candles.
During Hanukkah Jews also go to their synagogue, read the Torah (their holy book) and pray.
During Hanukkah families spend time together, eating food and playing games. Traditional Hanukkah foods include deep fried jelly donuts called sufganiyot and potato pancakes called latkes. Both dishes are fried and represent oil from the story.
One game played is where people take turns spinning a four sided spinning top called a dreidel. It has Hebrew letters on it that mean “A great miracle happened there”. Players can win chocolate gelet (the Hebrew word for money or coins), if the top lands the right way.
All photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Shutterstock Images.