Hanukkah is approaching and the countdown is on... Families in Greater Cincinnati are getting ready for the eight-day Jewish holiday, which the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, festivities, and gifts will soon mark.
This year, Hanukkah begins on Sunday, December 18, at sundown and ends on Monday, December 26, at midnight. Given that Hanukkah is a prominent festival celebrated by a large number of people worldwide, you may have assumed it to be the Jewish version of Christmas. Despite the fact that Hanukkah is celebrated around the same time as Christmas, it has nothing to do with the festival.
Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of one day's worth of oil lasting for eight days after Syrian Greeks defiled the Jerusalem Temple before the Maccabees, a group of Jewish soldiers, defeated them.
Every year, the holiday starts on the 25th of Kislev, the ninth month of the Jewish calendar.
Jewish festivals are celebrated on different yearly dates since the Hebrew calendar is based on the lunar cycle, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. Usually, Hanukkah begins between the end of November and the end of December.
Hanukkah is celebrated for eight nights and is frequently referred to as the Festival of Lights because it involves lighting a menorah, a nine-stemmed candelabra. A ninth candle, known as the shammes or shammash, which is used to ignite the other eight candles, distinguishes the menorah from other candelabras.
Menorah lighting "usually occurs at home, in a doorway or near a window," according to Chabad.
Other Hanukkah traditions include playing with dreidels and enjoying holiday delicacies like latkes, potato pancakes, and doughnuts.
( With inputs from ANI )
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