The history of Hanukkah: How the ‘miracle of the oil’ sparked the Jewish Festival of Lights

Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival also known as the Festival of Lights, see Jews around the world light one candle on a nine-branched menorah – or ‘hanukiah candelabrum’ – each day.

The holiday begins on the 25th day of Kislev, which is the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. In the western calendar, Hanukkah is celebrated in November or December. This year it begins on Sunday December 22nd and continues until Monday December 30th.

What is the history behind Hanukkah?

The word Hanukkah means ‘rededication’ and commemorates the Jews’ struggle for religious freedom, when the leaders of a Jewish rebel army called the Maccabees rose up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors…