Hanukkah 2018: When does Hanukkah start? What date does Hanukkah end?
HANUKKAH is almost upon us as Jews across the world get ready to celebrate the eight-days-long festival. But when does Hanukkah start and what date does it end?
Celebrating eight days of Hanukkah the Festival of Lights
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights or the Feast of Dedication is a Jewish holiday. The holiday remembers the rededication of the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem, Israel. Hanukkah is the Hebrew and Aramaic word for dedication.
When does Hanukkah start?
This year Hanukkah will begin in the evening of Sunday, December 2.
The festival is observed for eight nights and days.
Hanukkah will start on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the civil year and the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar.
What date does Hanukkah end?
Hanukkah ends in the evening of Monday, December 10 this year.
The dates change ever year because the Jewish calendar is lunar, which means it uses the moon to choose it days.
This means Kislev can happen from late November to late December.
Why is Hanukkah celebrated?
Hanukkah commemorates the rededicated during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
According to legend the Jewish people had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean revolt.
The Maccabees successfully rebelled against Antiochus IV Epiphanesm, who wanted all the empire to follow a Greek way of life.
Some Jews wanted to be more Greek, but most wanted to continue to follow their Jewish way of life.
According to the Talmud, a late text, the Second Temple was purified and the wicks of the menorah miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough sacred oil for one day's lighting.
The Hanukkah menorah is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the Jewish holiday, where a new branch is lit every night.
The story behind Hanukkah is found in the books of the First and Second Maccabees.
These books describe in detail the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem and lightning of the menorah.
Both books are included in the Old Testament.