Hanukkah: What is it? How is it celebrated? What do you eat and why? (2024)

Hanukkah, or Chanukah in Hebrew, is the Jewish festival of light.

The word Hanukkah means 'dedication' and celebrates one of the greatest miracles in Jewish history.

The dates of Hanukkah change every year, but it will always fall in November or December and lasts for eight days.

This year, it begins on the evening of Thursday 7 December and ends on Friday 15 December.

But what was this miracle to be celebrated? And how do people mark the festival today?

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The festival reminds Jews of a time over 2,000 years ago, when the Jews won a battle against the Greeks to practise their religion freely.

The Greeks had banned all Jewish rituals. King Antiochus tried to make Jewish people bow down in front of a statue of him that had been put in the Jewish temple, and pray to Greek Gods, but they refused.

A small group of Jews called the Maccabees fought against this and, after a three-year war, they won. However, their Jewish temple had been destroyed.

They cleaned and repaired the temple. Then, to celebrate the victory, an oil lamp was lit in it.

There was only enough oil to burn the candle for one day, but miraculously it burned for eight days.

This is why the Hanukkah festival lasts for eight days and why light is really important in the celebration.

Hanukkah starts on the 25th day of Kislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar.

It is celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting as well as playing dreidel, singing songs and preparing delicious food.

It is a fun time for children, as they will receive gifts and Hanukkah money called gelt.

Some families give each other a small present on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah.

Traditionally, there is a special game that children and adults play together. It involves a spinning top called a dreidel, which is a cube-shaped dice with a Hebrew letter on each of the four sides.

To begin the game, each player has 10-20 objects, which are often raisins or sweets. Each person puts one object in the middle and takes a turn at spinning the dreidel.

The letter that the dreidel shows when it has finished spinning determines whether they win or lose.

The holiday is also celebrated by lighting a candlestick called a Hanukiah.

It has eight branches plus the shamash, meaning helper, which is lit first and used to light the other candles.

The shamash usually sits a bit higher or lower or to the side of the other candles.

Jewish people say the eight branches represents the eight days of the miracle and they light one candle for each night of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is a great time for eating delicious food.

Some dishes have special meaning, such as latkes (which are a kind of potato fritter), pancakes and doughnuts.

This is because they are fried in oil and so, by preparing and eating this food, Jewish people remember the miracle of the oil lasting eight days in the temple.

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