Hanukkah (meaning dedication) is a minor Jewish holiday.
It is one of the only Jewish holidays not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Yet it is still much-loved by many Jews.
Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army. It also celebrates a miracle that happened at that time.
After the revolt, the Jews reclaimed the Temple from the Syrian Greeks. They cleansed and rededicated the Temple. But when they tried to light the menorah (a candelabra, like the one pictured here), they found only a small amount of oil. Miraculously, that little bit of oil lasted for eight days. This is one of the reasons Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days.
Today, many people celebrate Hanukkah by lighting the menorah (also known as a hanukiah), eating foods fried in oil, playing games like dreidel, and singing songs.
Many people place their menorah in the window or join in public celebrations and menorah lightings.
Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
20230118152605 IMG 6454 by Rei Norden on Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0.