History & Art and Culture Prelims Plus
Hanukkah is also known as Chanukah.
It is a Jewish Festival of Lights that lasts for eight days and nights in honour of a 2,000-year-old miracle in which light won out over darkness.
It marks the rededication during the second century BC of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend, Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.
According to the Jewish religious calendar, Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev and continues until the second day of the month of Teslev — a date known as Zos Chanukah that is particularly holy.
The name "Hanukkah" derives from the Hebrew meaning "to dedicate".