| Amina Lake Abdelrahman, Katarina Avendaño, Alesandra Dubin |
About the holiday’s name…
The holiday derives its name from the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication.”
The Jewish rebels won the revolt, but then they faced another challenge.
And that’s why Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration of the “miracle of the oil.”
Menorahs come in all kinds of sizes and styles.
Technically, the Hanukkah menorah is called a hanukkiah.
The nine-branched menorah used for Hanukkah is actually called a hanukkiah. Menorahs, more generally, are simply candelabras used in Jewish worship. A traditional menorah, like the one used in the ancient Temple, has only seven branches. (So, a hanukkiah is a menorah… but a menorah is not necessarily a hanukkiah!)
Hanukkah doesn’t always fall on the same day.
Because the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, Hanukkah isn’t on the same date every year. The celebration always begins on the 25th of Kislev, meaning it typically falls in November or December of the Gregorian calendar.
In 2024, Hanukkah starts late on the Gregorian calendar.
It’s not uncommon for Hanukkah to overlap with other holiday celebrations. It’s fallen early enough to overlap Thanksgiving. In 2024, it starts especially late: It begins on the evening of December 25 (yes, also Christmas) and ends on January 2, 2025.
But Hanukkah is not “the Jewish Christmas.”
Because of the time of year during which Hanukkah falls — and the marketing hype around gifts and decor — it’s tempting to think of it as sort of like the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. But it’s really not: In fact, it’s a relatively more minor holiday on the Jewish calendar compared with the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
There’s traditionally no gift-giving on Hanukkah.
Children win gelt by spinning dreidels.
Dreidels are four-sided spinning tops with a Hebrew letter printed on each side representing the phrase “A Great Miracle Happened There,” My Jewish Learning says. Each player spins the dreidel — then depending on the letter it falls on, they either win or lose a specified amount of gelt.
Blue and white are the traditional colors of Hanukkah.
Blue and white are the colors traditionally associated with Hanukkah decor and celebrations. That’s because these are the colors found in the Israeli flag and are generally associated with Jewish identity and pride.
Traditional Hanukkah foods, like latkes, are fried.
That’s because the holiday celebrates oil. The most popular dish of the holiday is latkes (fried potato pancakes), according to My Jewish Learning. Flavors can range from sweet to salty, and they’re often served with applesauce or sour cream.
The holiday’s traditional dessert is the jelly donut.
Chanukah and Hanukkah are technically both correct spellings.
The latter is the most popular variation nowadays. According to Dictionary.com, there are multiple acceptable ways of spelling it because it’s a transliteration, which refers to translation from a language that uses different characters or symbols into another language. The name of the Jewish holiday comes from Hebrew, so the spelling doesn’t have an exact equivalent in English.
The Torah doesn’t mention Hanukkah at all.
An astronaut once celebrated Hanukkah in space.
The National Menorah is lit every year in Washington D.C.
It’s also 30 feet tall and it takes a cherry picker to get to the top!
Amina is a product review writer and editor who worked as an editorial assistant in the Good Housekeeping Institute from 2018 to 2020, writing original content based on GH Lab experts’ product testing and analysis. Amina graduated from Montclair State University with a B.A. in communication studies and journalism.
Katarina Avendaño (she/her) is the senior SEO editor for Good Housekeeping, where she writes and edits lifestyle content and contributes to SEO strategy. Before joining GH in 2021, she was the digital editor at New York Family, where she was responsible for the website’s content and strategy. Katarina received her bachelor’s degree in communications and Spanish from the University of Washington.
Alesandra is a digital travel and lifestyle journalist based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Prevention, Insider, Glamour, Shondaland, AFAR, Parents, TODAY, and countless other online and print outlets. Alesandra has a masters degree in journalism with an emphasis on cultural reporting and criticism from NYU, and a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley. An avid traveler, she trots the globe with her husband and their twins.
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below