Hanukkah

Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah (Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה‎), is an eight-day Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE. The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the menorah or hanukkiah, one additional light each night. Other Hanukkah festivities include singing traditional songs, playing the game of dreidel, and eating oil-dried foods such as latkes and sufganiyot. The festival, also known as the Festival of Lights, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and typically falls in November or December in the Gregorian calendar. In Yiddish, Hanukkah is known as Lichterfayerg (ליכטערפֿײַרג), and in Ladino, it is called Januca (חנוכה). The holiday carries significant cultural and religious importance, symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness and the preservation of Jewish identity and traditions.