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• Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah, is an annual Jewish holiday observance that lasts for eight consecutive nights. It is celebrated with food, songs, prayer and the lighting of the menorah.

• Fast Facts

  1. 2008 Date: Sunset, December 21 to Sunset, December 29About.com: When is Hanukkah 2008
  2. Begins: 25 KislevAkhlah: Hanukkah
  3. Ends: 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet
  4. The Hebrew word Chanukah means dedicationAish.com: What is Chanukah
  5. Commemorates the Maccabees' successful rebellion against Antiochus IV EpiphanesJewlicious: What is Chanukah
  6. During the rebellion one day's worth of oil lasted 8 nightsChabad: Lighting the Darkness
  7. The middle candle on the menorah is called ShamashNationMaster: Shamash
  8. Hanukkah also known as the Festival of Light and Feast of DedicationCentral Presbyterian Church: What is Hanukkah

• Hanukkah Traditions

  Hanukkah is steeped in traditions like lighting the menorah candles, giving gelt, playing dreidel and cooking and eating foods that contain oil like latkes and jelly dougnuts.History.com: Hanukkah Traditions

• Hanukkah Blessings

  Three Hanukkah blessings, which are also know as brachos, are spoken while lighting the candles on the menorah at sundown. The first two blessings are spoken each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, while the third is only recited on the first night while lighting the Shamash.About.com: Hannukah Blessings

• Traditional Hanukkah Dishes

  Fried foods are one of Hanukkah's most delicious traditions. The oil that is used to fry the foods is symbolic of the oil that burned for eight nights during the Maccabees' rebellion. Because oil can be used to produce light, further symbolism is linked to enlightenment.

  Dairy foods are also eaten during Hanukkah in honor of Yehudit, a woman who saved her village from Syrians. One of the Syrian tactics against the Jews was to starve them, but Yehudit took cheese and wine to the Syrian governor. After getting him drunk, she beheaded him.About.com: Hanukkah Food

  
  

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Hanukkah 2008 | When is Chanukah | Hanukkah Cupcakes | Jewish Holiday | Applesauce | Latkes | Hanukkah Gelt | How to Play Dreidel | Hanukkah Menorah | Frying | Hanukkah Songs | Kol Nidre | Passover Recipes | Rosh Hashanah | Rosh Hashanah Prayers | Shemini Atzeret | Simchat Torah | Sukkot | Yom Kippur | How to Make and Decorate Hanukkah Cupcakes | How to Celebrate Festivus | December Holidays | Jelly Doughnuts | Will You Merry Me | HumanLight | How to Celebrate Hanukkah | How to Have a Cheap Passover | Hanukkah Games

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