HAPPY HANUKKAH 2021: Why is Hanukkah celebrated? Its Traditions? Its Importance? Check out all about Hanukkah!

The special festival that comes alive each year, Hanukkah is here! Get your candles rekindled, your loved ones gathered and faith renewed for the traditional holiday. The eight-day Jewish festival Hanukkah or Chanukkah which means “dedication” begins on the 25th of Kislev according to the Hebrew calender and then celebrated for the next eight days with great joy and happiness. This year, the festival started on 29th of November and will end on 6th of December.

The Feast of Dedication reaffirms the ideals of Judaism meaning monotheism religion and is celebrated to remind people of rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem where the Jews revolted against the Greek-Syrian oppressors and candles are lit to celebrate the success.

Why is Hanukkah celebrated?

The festival is inspired by one of the most important phase of the Jewish history. The Land of Israel- Judea was conquered by the Seleucid king of Syria, Antiochus III around 200 BC who was kind enough to allow jews to live on their own terms but when his son Antiochus IV Epiphanes became king, he neglected the religious beliefs of the jews and ordered them to worship Greek gods. Then in 168 BC his army descended upon Jerusalem and desecrated the holy second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs in the sacred temple.

Maccabees became the first Jews to rise against the ruler to defend their religious beliefs and after a three-year struggle the jews succeeded and then announced the restoration of the temple. After the purification, new altar was installed and dedicated on Kislev 25 and since then the restoration of the temple is celebrated every year for eight sacred days. The Feast of Dedication is celebrated to pay the respects to the sacrificing soldiers of the Jews.

The most popular tradition of the festival is the lighting of candles but the tradition do not trace back to the war but instead the miracle of oil.

The person behind the struggle against Syrians, Judah Maccabee entered the Jerusalem temple to lit the menorah to mark their success. When he arrived, there was only a jar of oil which was enough to let the menorah to burn for one day, but the most unexpected and beautiful miracle occurred and rhe menorah kept burning for a total of 8 days and after that new oil was found for fresh supply. This wondrous incident made the candle lighting act to make its place in Jewish traditions.

Traditions of Hanukkah

During this Festival of Light, people gather to recite blessings and enjoy various traditional games like Driedel that means playing with four-sided spinning tops and enjoy a delicious meal. The whole festival revolves around kindling a nine-branchef menorah known as Hanukiah in Hebrew language. Each day of the festival, one candle is added to the menorah and the ninth candle called Shamash or helper is used to light the candles. Olive oil was used traditionally to light the menorah. It is a festival celebrated with great joy and also some tasty traditional foods like Latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiyot (jam-filled donuts) and many others fried in oil. But with time, the size of the menu increased as the festival became more popular.

Importance of Hanukkah

Hanukkah rededicate ourselves to kindle the flame of hope as we kindle the menorah. It symbolizes that each one of us has dark phases in our lives but we have to rise up against it to find the light of our destination.

On Hanukkah that Shamash is used to light the other candles which teaches us that if we share our light with others, our own light will never diminish and will just keep on rising.

The history also teaches us to stand against any kind of oppression and the problems we face with the utmost belief in ourselves. The longest journeys are also started with a small first step, so the festival inspires us to make our first step to make something big out of our lives.

Hanukkah celebrations bring the most warm and happy memories and light up the lives during the cold dark winter season.

Where is it celebrated?

Hanukkah is celebrated all over the globe especially by Jewish people. But the biggest celebrations take place where it all began, the Jewish homeland of Jerusalem which is turned into a city of lights during Hanukkah. It is a national holiday in Israel and is celebrated in various other countries like America, Italy, United Kingdom and others where Jews live.

Nowadays the festival is commercialized and is totally about shopping, rushing and making plans but is it the best way of celebrate? No, so let’s take a step back, know the history and learn from the happy occasion and inherent the most inspiring principles in our lives. This Hanukkah, along with shopping and capturing your perfect selfies, spend some quality time with your loved ones who are the lights in your lives. Hanukkah is a celebration of love, happiness, warm blessings and exchanging some amazing gifts. It teaches up that a little light can go a long way and make a big difference.