Hanukkah is celebration of family, faith

‘Festival of Lights’ begins at sundown Sunday

This time of year, the calendar is filled with holidays, festivities and observances. Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish celebration known as the Festival of Lights, will begin tomorrow at sundown.

According to the History Channel, Hanukkah “commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.”

According to Chabad.org, after the small group defeated the Greeks, they tried to light the temple’s Menorah, but “found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of

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ritual purity.”

Hanukkah’s celebration stems from that miracle. The Hebrew word Hanukkah (or Chanukah) means dedication, and is dominated by light, which My JewishLearning.com notes is a metaphor for spiritual freedom.

According to tradition, the menorah must be lit after dark, allowing the candles to bring light into the darkness. The menorah is a candelabrum with eight branches, plus a spot for the sammash candle used to light the other candles, Britannica reports. Traditionally, olive oil was used, but eventually, that tradition was replaced with the candles we know today.

The holiday is celebrated with family, with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, special prayers, games and gifts, History reports. Traditional foods are fried in oil, which symbolizes the oil from the menorah in the temple after the revolt, History reports, including potato pancakes (Latkes) and jam-filled donuts (sufganiyot). Games include card games or the dreidel, a four-sided top.

This year, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Sunday, Dec. 2, and lasts until sundown on Monday, Dec. 10.

Happy Hanukkah, readers!