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Five days left until celebrations begin, and yesterday, Hanukkah celebrations began!
Hanukkah is a Jewish eight-day celebration that begins on the 25th of Kislev. It commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem and is celebrated with the reading of Scripture or Psalms, almsgiving, eating fried treats, gifting children money, playing dreidel, and lighting a menorah.
The lighting of the nine-branched menorah is the most commonly known method of celebration. The ninth candle, the shamash ("helper"), is lit first and used to light the other candles beginning with just one candle. An additional candle is lit each day of the celebration until all nine candles are lit.
Additional Facts
The word "Hanukkah" means "dedication" in Hebrew. There are variations of how the word is spelled due to the transliteration between Hebrew (a character-based language) and English (an alphabet-based language). Some variations include Chanukah, Hanukah, or Hanukka.
The celebration began in the second century B.C.E. when Antiochus IV of Syria outlawed Judaism in Judea (modern-day Israel). He sent his soldiers to massacre the Jews of Jerusalem and erect an altar to Zeus. The altar was placed in the Second Temple, which they then defiled by sacrificing pigs within its walls. This sparked what is known as the Maccabean Revolt that eventually drove the Syrians away leaving the Jews to cleanse and rebuild the Second Temple. To rededicate the temple, they would light the menorah to burn in the temple at all times. The story goes that there was only enough pure olive oil to keep the candles burning for one day, however, by some miracle, the candles burned for eight days.
Some historians and scholars have suggested that the celebration of Hanukkah may have originally been the celebration of Sukkot, which consists of seven days of feasting, delayed by the Maccabean Revolt.
The month of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar can correspond to November or December on the Gregorian calendar; therefore Hanukkah falls on different dates each year, sometimes overlapping with other holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Today's activity is Hanukkah themed. What's your Hanukkah name? Let us know in the comment section!
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