FestivalJewish
Hanukkah
No rule yet
Nobody has written a rule for this observance yet, so the calendar does not put it on a day. A name with a made-up date beside it would be worse than a name on its own.
Its picture waits on review by the tradition's own authority, so it is not shown yet.
In short
Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights. Its historical background lies in the second century BCE, when the Maccabees led a revolt against Seleucid rule and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been profaned.
The story
Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights. Its historical background lies in the second century BCE, when the Maccabees led a revolt against Seleucid rule and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been profaned. Rabbinic tradition adds the famous account that only a small quantity of ritually pure oil remained for the Temple lamp, enough for one day, yet it burned for eight days until new oil could be prepared. The central home ritual therefore uses a special nine-branched lamp, the hanukkiah: one light is added on each of the eight nights, usually using a helper candle called the shamash. Blessings and songs accompany the lighting. Foods fried in oil, games with the dreidel and gifts or gelt developed as additional customs in various communities. Hanukkah combines historical memory of religious survival with the image of a small light continuing through darkness.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Why it matters
Hanukkah is significant to the community that observes it and helps preserve religious, family and cultural continuity.
What people do
One more light is kindled each night on the hanukkiah, which is put in a window - the point is that it is seen from outside. Food fried in oil: latkes and sufganiyot. The dreidel is played for small stakes, and children are given gelt.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Told differently elsewhere
Ashkenazi households fry latkes, Sephardi and Israeli ones sufganiyot; both are about the oil. Its prominence outside Israel owes much to the calendar placing it beside Christmas - it is a minor festival in Jewish law and a major one in Jewish life abroad.
This text has not been checked by a reviewer yet.
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