A temple taken back
HANUKKAH means dedication in HEBREW. In the 160s BC, the land of Judea was ruled by a Greek-speaking king, Antiochus IV, who banned Jewish religious practice and placed a statue of a Greek god in the Temple in Jerusalem. A family of JEWISH fighters called the Maccabees led a revolt, and after about three years they recaptured the Temple, cleaned it and rededicated it to God. Hanukkah remembers that rededication. The story is told in the books of Maccabees, which are included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but not in the Hebrew Bible. In English the name is spelled many ways, including Chanukah, because its first Hebrew letter makes a throaty sound English does not have.
According to the Talmud, a collection of Jewish teaching written down centuries later, only one small jar of pure OIL could be found to light the Temple's lamp, enough for a single day. It burned for EIGHT days, long enough to prepare more, and that MIRACLE is why the FESTIVAL of LIGHTS lasts eight nights. Our Judaism page covers the wider faith.
Nine branches, not seven
The Hanukkah MENORAH has nine branches: one for each night of the festival, and a ninth, the SHAMASH, meaning helper, which is used to light the others. It is different from the seven-branched menorah of the ancient Temple, which appears on the emblem of the modern state of ISRAEL. On the first night one light is lit, and one more is added each evening until all eight are burning on the last night. Families often place the menorah in a window, so that passers-by can see the CANDLES and remember the miracle. A BLESSING is said as they are lit.
Hanukkah falls on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev. Because the Hebrew calendar follows the moon, that can be anywhere from late November to late December. It is not one of the most important Jewish holy days, such as Yom Kippur and Passover, but living close to Christmas has made it better known.
Nun, gimel, hei, shin
The DREIDEL is a four-sided SPINNING top with a Hebrew letter on each side: NUN, GIMEL, Hei and SHIN. Together they stand for the words a great miracle happened there. In Israel, the last letter is changed to Pe, so the dreidels read a great miracle happened here. Each letter also tells a player what to do: nothing for nun, take everything for gimel, take half for hei, and put one in for shin. In 1993 the astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman spun a dreidel on the space shuttle during a mission to repair the Hubble telescope.
Fried food and chocolate coins
Because the story is about oil, Hanukkah foods are fried. In Jewish families from eastern Europe, LATKES, crisp potato pancakes, are the favourite, though potatoes only became common there in the 1800s. In Israel the favourite is SUFGANIYOT, round doughnuts filled with jam and dusted with sugar, and bakeries there make millions of them each year.
Children are often given GELT, the Yiddish word for money. Real coins were once given to children and teachers during the festival; the gold-foil CHOCOLATE coins came along in the 1900s.