People of the Jewish religion celebrate Hanukkah for eight days each year to celebrate their personal freedom of religion and culture.  Hanukkah, sometimes referred to as the festival of lights, is a widely celebrated holiday for people that practice Judaism to honor their freedom, revolution against Jewish opposition, and the remarkable Hanukkah story.

The Hanukkah story is derived from the time when Antiochus IV was in power and strongly oppressed the Jewish people and their culture and beliefs.  Two groups of Jewish people were able to rise up against Antiochus and become victorious in revolution against him in order to rededicate their temple.  During this time, there was a very small amount of oil left to light the menorah in the temple, but miraculously, the oil that should have only lit the candle for one day lit the candle for eight whole days.  The Jewish people celebrate this holiday to honor the miracle that occurred.

Celebrating Hanukkah revolves around spending time with friends and family to distribute Hanukkah gifts, light the menorah, and enjoy delicious, traditional Hanukkah foods.  There are numerous Hanukkah traditions that people take part in such as lighting the menorah that has nine candles, eight candles to represent the eight days that the candle burned in the Hanukkah story and one candle used to light the others each day.  The menorah is one of many festive and beautiful Hanukkah ornaments that help to celebrate the miracle that created the holiday.   

Hanukkah is always an eight day celebration that starts at different times during the month of December based on the Jewish calendar.  One Hanukkah tradition is to distribute Hanukkah gifts or Hanukkah cards on each of the eight days of the celebration in which children can open and enjoy during Hanukkah, or the festival of lights.  Hanukkah gifts can range from electronic games like video games to jewelry and everything in between.  Another exciting tradition that people partake in during this inspirational holiday is playing a Hanukkah dreidel game which is a very popular and fun children’s game.

Traditional Hanukkah foods and Hanukkah decorations help to create a festive and celebratory feel to the time of Hanukkah.  Many foods served during this time are fried foods like Soofganiot which are doughnuts or latkas and livivot which are potato pancakes.  Hanukkah foods are usually fried in oil to symbolize the oil that miraculously burned for eight days after the rededication of the temple.  There are so many wonderful Hanukkah decorations to assist in celebrating the holiday such as menorahs which are a symbol for the holiday and a collector’s item for some families, dreidels, festive dreidel garland, Star of David figurines, or any other decorations adorned in the Hanukkah colors of blue and silver.  Festive decorations and foods are all a part of Hanukkah entertaining and memories that families can remember and look back on for years to come.  Hanukkah is such an exciting and prideful holiday for the Jewish people that celebrates their independence and freedom from oppressors and their dedication to the religion of Judaism.