An ancient holiday of the Jewish community: what you need to know about Hanukkah

As the end of December approaches, various human communities from different geographic regions of the world prepare for various celebrations of their ancient traditions and beliefs. Humanity is waiting for the end of 2022 and the early start of the celebration of the New Year. Christendom is preparing for the upcoming Christmas celebrations. Jews are waiting for an ancient holiday called Hanukkah. Hanukkah, which dates back to 200 B.C. and is also known as the “Feast of Lights” or “Feast of Lights”, is of great importance to Jews around the world. For this reason, Hanukkah celebrations around the world are extremely colorful and “light” images. Here’s what you need to know about Hanukkah, the ancient Jewish holiday…

Hanukkah, which means “devotion,” is celebrated because the Jewish community reclaimed Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in the 200s BC.

The Jewish community around the world has been celebrating Hanukkah with great enthusiasm ever since Jerusalem was taken back. Celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, this holiday falls in late November and mid-December in the Gregorian calendar. Many people mistakenly refer to Hanukkah as the “Jewish version of Christmas” as it is usually celebrated shortly before Christmas.

Why is Hanukkah called the Feast of Lights or the Feast of Lights?

After all, one of the most important symbols of Hanukkah are candles lit during the holiday. According to ancient stories, the Jewish community, which lived in very difficult conditions before the reconquest of Jerusalem, had only one daytime oil lamp to light their places of worship. Despite this, the lamp that miraculously illuminated the sanctuary continued to burn for eight days.

For this reason, Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days, and each day one more candle is lit than the previous day in connection with this miraculous event. Sometimes one candle is lit every day. Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights or the Festival of Lights because of the candles lit during the eight-day Hanukkah celebration.

Hanukkah, which has a history of hundreds of years, contains many colorful rituals.

First, the celebration of Hanukkah begins with the lighting of candles in a candlestick with nine branches called Monero. The candle that stands above the other candles in the middle of the candlestick is called the “shamash”. The celebration of Hanukkah begins with the lighting of this candle. Since one of the candles in the candlestick is lit and continues to burn each day during the celebration, on the eighth day all the candles in the candlestick called Monero are lit at the same time.

One of the famous traditions of Hanukkah is that people give money to each other.

Jews also exchange gifts very often during Hanukkah.

Another highlight of the Hanukkah festival is the carefully set tables.

Because Hanukkah is a holiday that holds many different traditions when it comes to food. For example, during Hanukkah, more than 175 million donuts are eaten in Israel alone, called sufganiyot in Hebrew.

The traditional dishes of the Hanukkah table are mainly french fries.

This is a reference to the daily oil lamp burning for eight days hundreds of years ago. On the other hand, at the crowded Hanukkah tables there are only foods that are called “kosher” and which are not objectionable in Judaism. The Jewish community has been enthusiastically celebrating the Festival of Lights for hundreds of years, gathering around very colorful Hanukkah tables…

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