Hanukkah: A Jews Festival

Hanukkah is the famous Festival of Lights celebrated by Jewish and it conference the rededication of the second temple by Jewish in Jerusalem, a place in Israel. It happened when Jesus were born in 160s BCE/BC. Hanukkah is a Aramaic and Hebrew word which means 'dedication'. This festival lasts for eight days and the celebration begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month called kislev, that reaches as at the same time nearly December. The Jewish calendar is based on the moon so Kislev month happens generally from the end of November to the end of December. Whine in 2018, Hanukkah will be celebrated from Sunday, 2nd December till 10th December as per the English calendar.

During this festival of Jews every night in the eight day festival, a candle is lighted up in a special place named menorah also called a 'hanukkiyah'. There is also a special candle called the servant candle or the 'shammash' referred as 9th candle which has been used to light up the other candles. The shammash is placed at the centre of candles then at the higher position. The trend of the festival is that one candle is lit on the first night thereafter two on the second and thus followed till eighth and the last day by lighting 8 candles in a tradition of lighting them from left to right. A special blessing prayer of thanking God is said both before and after lighting the candles alongside singing a special Jewish hymn. The story of Hanukkah can be remembered so people put menorah at the front window of their houses so that passerby can see the lights. Every Jewish family has a different and specially made menorah so as to celebrate Hanukkah. As it's a festival so it is also a moment and occasion for receiving gifts and giving a return and it is followed at every night. Other things of celebration include lots of games being played during the period of Hanukkah. The most popular games are 'sivivon' (Hebrew) and 'dreidel' (Yiddish). It's a game that has a four sided top with a Hebrew letter at the end of each side. The four letters includes the first four letter of the jewesh phrase 'Nes Gadol Hayah Sham' which literally mean 'A great miracle happened there' (in Israel language 'here' is replaced by 'there' so it is written as 'Nes Gadol Hayah Po'). Each player put a nut coin or a nut or chocolate coin in the pot and then the pot is spun and the winner takes the coins.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah