Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights.

It remembers how the

second Jewish temple in Jerusalem that was redirected back to the Jewish
religion which happened in 160Bc. The word Hanukah translates to
dedication in Jewish. The dates for Hanukah changes each year. This is
because the Hebrew calendar is lunar and there are about 12 and a half
lunar months in our 12-month solar calendar. The starting date for
Hanukah is the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which
is the 12th of December this year, and will finish on the 20th of December.

Food:

Potato pancakes, latkes, and deep-fried doughnuts, 'sufganiyot', are

traditional Hanukkah treats. Fried foods remind Jews of the miracle of the
oil and the candles that burned for eight days after the Maccabees won
back the temple in Jerusalem. Dairy products are often eaten during
Hanukkah (obviously not along with meat). The tradition originates in the
story of Judith (Yehudit) who saved her village from the Syrians by making
an offering of cheese and wine to the governor of the enemy troops. Judith
encouraged the governor to get drunk. After he collapsed on the floor, she
beheaded him with his own sword and took his head back to the village in a
basket. The Syrian troops discovered their governor had been beheaded
and fled.

Events during Hanukkah:

Hanukah is a time for family members to spend time together. A game

played during Hanukah is Dreidel. A Sevivon is spun and candies or small
nuts are used to gamble in the game. It's a four-sided top with a Hebrew
letter on each side. The four letters are the first letter of the phrase 'Nes
Gadol Hayah Sham' which means 'A great miracle happened there' (except
in Israel, 'there' is replaced to 'here' so it's 'Nes Gadol Hayah Po'). A player
puts a nut or piece of candy in a pot and the top is spun. If the letter 'nun
come up nothing happens, if it's 'gimel' the player wins the pot, if it's 'hay'
you win half the pot and if it's 'shin' or 'pe' you have to put another item
into the pot and the next person has a spin! The game ends when someone
possesses all the candies or nuts.
History:

In about 200 BCE/BC Israel was a state ruled by the Greek empire. In 171
BCE/BC, there came a new King called Antiochus IV. Antiochus wanted all
the empire to follow Greek ways of life and the Greek religion with all its
gods. Some of the Jews wanted to be Greek, but most wanted to stay Jewish.
Not being a fan of variety, he demanded that if you didnt pray to the Greek
gods and share in his same culture, you would be in trouble. This was a
problem for the Jews who wanted to celebrate Shabbath and continue
studying the Torah.

One-day Antiochus was very angry returning from a battle and went crazy.
He demanded Jewish houses to be burnt down, killed and enslaved
thousands of Jews. He also made sure all the treasure from the Jewish
Temple was taken and he put a huge statue of the Greek God Zeus which
Antiochus face in the centre of the temple. This temple was then a
dedicated shrine to Zeus. He then banned the practise of the Jewish
religion. If you were caught practising it, everyone in your family would
have been killed.

A rebellion broke out when an old 'former' Jewish Priest, called Mattathias,
was forced to make an offering to Zeus in his village and refused and killed
a Syrian soldier. Mattathias died soon after this, but his son Judah then took
charge of the freedom fighters to save their Jewish heritage. Judah's
nickname was 'Maccabee' which is the Hebrew word for hammer. He and
his troops lived in caves and fought an undercover war for three years.

Rising above the Jews disadvantage of less numbers, they defeated the
Greek army and reclaimed their holy temple. When they sought to light the
Temple's Menorah, they 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 ritual purity.
Menorah: Small gifts or money, Gelt,
are usually given to
A menorah is a 7-branched candle holder. They
children and sometimes
are usually used as a symbol of Judaism in a
adults on each night during
household. During Hanukah a special 9 cupped
Hanukah.
menorah called a Hanukkiah is used to hold
candles. Each night during Hanukah one candle
is lit from left to right on the Hanukkiah, a sacred
candle holder. A blessing is said every time a
candle is lit. An additional candle is lit every
night throughout the festival using a Shamash
candle. This is usually situated in the middle of
the surrounding eight candles. Its recommended
that the candles used are fuelled by olive oil
when possible. Hanukkiahs are placed at the
house front window. This is so the public
passing by can be remined of the of Hanukah.