Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is joyfully celebrated by Jewish people around the world. Corresponding with the lunisolar calendar, the holiday dates change each year (typically, it falls in November or December).
But no matter its place on the calendar each year, the annual traditions associated with this ancient holiday remain consistent: lighting the menorah, saying the Hanukkah blessings, eating fried foods like latkes and playing Hanukkah games like dreidel.
Read on to learn more about Hanukkah ahead of this year’s celebration.
When is Hanukkah this year?
In 2024, Hanukkah begins the evening of Wednesday, December 25, and ends the evening of Thursday, January 2, 2025. Although the dates change annually, this year marks a particularly late observance of the holiday, with the beginning corresponding with Christmas and the ending spilling into the new year. (In some past years, it's been early enough to overlap Thanksgiving.)
"Hanukkah always coincides with the winter solstice," Rabbi Jessica Minnen tells Woman's Day. "It symbolizes the creation of light in the darkest times. Jewish holidays are all connected to the earth and the cycle of seasons."
What does Hanukkah celebrate?
The history of the eight-day celebration is rooted in the rededication of the Holy Temple after the Jewish people reclaimed it from the Syrian Greeks in the second century BCE.
According to National Geographic, the Syrian Greeks invaded the Jewish homeland and captured Jerusalem, where the Jewish Holy Temple was located. After the invasion, they attempted to force the Jewish people to forgo their religion and customs and adopt Greek beliefs instead. The Syrian Greeks desecrated the Holy Temple and enacted laws forbidding the practice of Judaism.
“Imagine your town being taken over by people telling you that you can’t practice your faith anymore, that are trying to take away your identity. That’s what was happening to the Jewish people,” Minnen explains.
Rather than assimilate, the Jewish people rebelled against their oppressors. A tiny army, led by a man called Judah Maccabee (the Hebrew word for hammer), fought back against the huge Syrian-Greek army, reclaiming both Jerusalem and the Holy Temple.
The Hanukkah story
According to Jewish tradition, after winning back Jerusalem, they found that the Temple had been destroyed. They began to clean it up and wanted to light the menorah (a seven-branched candelabrum used to light the Temple) to give sacred light to the restoration project. However, the oil used in the temple had to be a special, purified oil, and the people couldn’t find any. They finally found a tiny bit of oil that would be enough for one day. It miraculously lasted for eight days, which was just enough time to purify more oil to keep the Temple lit.
Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days because of the Hanukkah miracle, in which that tiny bit of oil lasted for eight entire days and provided light to people restoring the temple. Today, Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights because it marks the celebration of that miracle.
The meaning of Hanukkah
The Hebrew word Hanukkah means "dedication," as the holiday commemorates the Jewish people's rededication to the Temple.
Minnen says that the spiritual significance of Hanukkah is that, like those more than two thousand years ago dedicating themselves to restoring the Temple, Jewish people today also take time during the holiday to reflect on who they really are, and rededicate themselves to their faith.
Hanukkah traditions
Hanukkah is celebrated with a number of traditions, including:
How to observe Hanukkah this year
"There’s a teaching in Judaism that tells us we should publicize the miracle of Hanukkah," says Minnen. "This means lighting candles in front of a window to magnify the light for as many people as possible." And yes, if possible, also "celebrating with big parties."
Another way to celebrate Hanukkah is by attending a public menorah lighting. These public menorah lightings frequently take place in town squares, public parks, city halls, and other community areas. You can search for ones happening near you and bring the whole family with you to celebrate. Public menorah lighting is generally open to the public, meaning non-Jewish people are also welcome to attend.
For people looking for a resource to give them a broader understanding of the holiday, Minnen recommends the short movie Lights on YouTube.
Alesandra is a digital travel and lifestyle journalist based in Los Angeles whose work has appeared in Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Prevention, Insider, Glamour, Shondaland, AFAR, Parents, TODAY and countless other online and print outlets. Alesandra has a masters degree in journalism with an emphasis on cultural reporting and criticism from NYU, and a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley. An avid traveler, she trots the globe with her husband and their twins.
