Chanukah commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE, and is celebrated by lighting a chanukiah, or menorah, for eight days, eating latkes, and playing dreidel.
Chanukah, or the Festival of Rededication, celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE. Although it is a late addition to the Jewish liturgical calendar, eight-day festival of Chanukah has become a beloved and joyous holiday. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and takes place in December, at the time of year when the days are shortest in the northern hemisphere.
At Home
Much of the activity of Chanukah takes place at home. Central to the holiday is the lighting of the chanukiah, an eight-branched candelabrum to which one candle is added on each day of the holiday until it is ablaze with light on the eighth day. (The Chanukiah is also referred to–erroneously–as a Chanukah menorah, but a true menorah has a total of only seven branches). In commemoration of the legendary cruse of oil, it is traditional to eat foods fried in oil. The most familiar Chanukah foods are the European (Ashkenazi) potato pancakes, or latkes, and the Israeli favorite, jelly donuts, or sufganiot. The tradition developed in Europe to give small amounts of money as well as nuts and raisins to children at this time.
History
Beginning in 167 BCE, the Jews of Judea rose up in revolt against the oppression of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire. The military leader of the first phase of the revolt was Judah the Maccabee, the eldest son of the priest Mattityahu (Mattathias). In the autumn of 164, Judah and his followers were able to capture the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been turned into a pagan shrine. They cleansed it and rededicated it to Israel’s God. This event was observed in an eight-day celebration, which was patterned on Sukkoth , the autumn festival of huts. Much later rabbinic tradition ascribes the length of the festival to a miraculous small amount of oil that burned for eight days.
Material excerpted from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/
