Content Starts Here
Hanukkah
Encyclopaedia Search
Hanukkah
In Judaism, an eight-day festival of dedication and lights that takes place at the beginning of December. It celebrates the recapture of the Temple in Jerusalem from Antiochus IV of Syria in 164 BC by Judas Maccabaeus, and its rededication.
During Hanukkah, candles are lit each night and placed in a nine-branched candlestick, or hanukkiah: this commemorates the Temple lamp that stayed miraculously lit for eight days on one day's supply of oil until a new supply could be made, demonstrating that God kept his covenant. There is one candle for each of the eight days (an extra candle being lit to mark each day), and a ninth with which to light the others. The lights of Hanukkah symbolize the faith that must not die.
© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
Related Links
Bolivia Flag
Red stands for Bolivia's animals and the valour of the liberating army. Green symbolizes fertility. Yellow represents Bolivia's mineral deposits. Effective date: c. 1966.
>>
Advertorial
Find out how to buy the things you've always wanted and sell the things you don't on ebay.
Font size
Mail
My account
Help
Community
Print now
Send to a friend
Related articles
Related products
