Hanukkah begins on Sunday, Nov. 28 this year, here’s the story behind the holiday
Hanukkah menorahs will be lit soon after Thanksgiving dinners and Black Friday shopping this year.
The eight-day Jewish ”festival of lights” usually falls in lateNovember or mid-December — and this year, people will celebrate earlier than usual compared to previous years.
When is Hanukkah 2021?
Hanukkah begins on Sunday, Nov. 28, and it ends on Monday, Dec. 6 this year.
Last year, the festival fell in mid-December, while 2019’s dates overlapped with Christmas.
{h2 class=”presto-h2”}Why do the dates for Hanukkah change every year?{/h2}
The dates of the holiday vary each year because it is based on the Hebrew calendar, which is lunisolar, meaning it’s in sync with the natural cycles of the sun and moon.
Hanukkah starts on the 25th day of Kislev, which is the ninth month in the Jewish calendar.
The festival’s eight-day length, on the other hand, is set in stone — and that’s because of the Hanukkah “Miracle”
in the Talmud, one of Judaism’s main texts, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
When a group of Jewish
worshippers were rededicating the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the Talmud says they only had enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day. Miraculously, the candles kept burning for eight nights.
Why is Hanukkah celebrated?
Hanukkah means “tradition” in Hebrew, and it commemorates two things, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica: The successful victory against a king who had attacked Jewish beliefs and desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem, according to the Books of the Maccabees, and the following restoration of that temple.
After that victory, it was proclaimed that the temple’s rededication should be celebrated every year beginning on that anniversary date.
Along with the menorah lighting, Hanukkah is celebrated with gift exchanges and traditional foods such as latkes — though the holiday doesn’t have the same religious significance or work restrictions of other major Jewish holidays, such as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
Contact Rashika Jaipuriar at rjaipuriar@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ rashikajpr.