The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, or Chanukah -- the Festival of Lights -- is underway.
It began at sundown on Wednesday, Dec. 25 and will continue into the beginning of 2025.
On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multibranched candelabra.
In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying foreign forces.
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With the tiny supply of ritually pure oil that they found in the temple, they lit the menorah — and it stayed lit for eight days. The ritual of lighting a nightly candle, as well as the emphasis on cooking foods in oil such as potato pancakes called latkes, memorialize this miraculously long-lasting oil.
When is the last night of Hanukkah 2024?
The last night of Hanukkah is Wednesday, Jan 2, 2025.
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When does Hanukkah end 2024?
Hanukkah this year will actually continue into 2025 this year and end at sundown on Thursday, Dec. 2.
Why is Hanukkah so late this year?
The simple answer is that the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles, and is not in sync with the Gregorian calendar which sets Christmas on Dec. 25. Hanukkah always begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev, a date which occurs between late November and late December on the Gregorian calendar.
The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005. But the term “Chrismukkah” — signifying the overlap of the two holidays — had become a popular term before then. The term gained extra currency in 2003, when the character Seth Cohen on the TV drama “The O.C.” embraced the fusion holiday as a tribute to his Jewish father and Protestant mother.
When is Hanukkah 2025?
Hanukkah will run from Dec. 14-22 in 2025.
