There Are 16 Ways To Spell Hanukkah – The Most Common English Spelling Is “Hanukkah” or “Chanukah.” (Video)

Hanukkah (Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה, usually spelled חנוכה pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew, also romanized as Chanukah or Chanuka), also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE.

Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may fall between late November and late December in the Gregorian calendar.

• 323 BC – After Alexander the Great died, the Seleucid Empire arose out of his fractured empire, the land where Israel is now.
• 167 BC – King Antiochus IV becomes king, persecuting the Jewish people and desecrating their sacred temple
• 165 BC – The revolt by the Maccabees in Jerusalem was ultimately successful, as they regained control of the Temple, creating the holiday.
• 164 BC – A Jewish group known as the Maccabees wins a series of battles and, when the temple was rededicated, the tiniest bit of oil miraculously lasted for eight days.
• 1st Century AD – Before it gained the name “Hanukkah”, the story of this celebration was told by Jewish historian Josephus Flavius
• 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to be the last Thursday in November, only to find that it overlapped that year with one of Hanukkah’s eight days.
• 1951 – Harry Truman was the first president to celebrate Hanukkah at the White House. In 1951, he accepted a Menorah as a gift from the Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion.
• 1979 – Hanukkah Is Celebrated At The White House. Jimmy Carter was the first president to officially recognize Hanukkah in 1979, and each president since has recognized it with a special menorah-lighting ceremony.
• 1993 – Jeff Hoffman brought a travel-size menorah and spun a dreidel while on the Space Shuttle Endeavour to restore the Hubble Space Telescope. His mini Hanukkah celebration was broadcast over satellite for people back on Earth to see.
• 1994 – The Saturday Night Live stars give a nod to his Jewish roots by singing a comedic ode to Hanukkah
• 1996 – The popular kids show Rugrats featured a Hanukkah episode that was both entertaining and wildly informative of how and why the holiday came to be.
• Hanukkah is not considered a significant religious holiday when compared to other Jewish holidays.
• The menorah holds nine candles. The center candle is the shamus or servant. It is used to light the 8 Hanukkah candles.
• The Hanukkah candles are strictly for pleasure. They are not to be utilized for any useful or productive purpose. The shamus is available, so the Hanukkah candles aren’t accidentally used to light a fire in the fireplace or for another useful purpose.
• Gift-giving is not traditionally part of the Hanukkah holiday.
• Playing dreidel is a gambling game popular during the Hanukkah holiday.
• Fried foods are traditional during the holiday, representing the oil used to light the lamps.
• During Hanukkah, families eat latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), or other fried foods, to celebrate and commemorate the miracle of the Festival of Lights.
• In Yemen, children went from house to house, tins in hand, to collect wicks for the Hanukkah Menorah.
• In Germany, the eighth and last night of Hanukkah used to be very special. All the leftover wicks and oil were lit in giant bonfires. People sang songs and danced around the fire, often until the small hours of the night.
• Savings bonds, checks, and small chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil-these are the modern incarnations of the traditional gift known as Hanukkah gelt. “Gelt” is a Yiddish term for “money”.
• Over 10 Million Jelly Donuts Are Eaten In Israel During Hanukkah. During Hanukkah, Israelis feast on “sufganiyot”—oily jelly donuts—as the traditional holiday dessert.
• The Dreidel Was Used As A Cover-Up For Studying The Torah. Studying the Torah was outlawed in ancient Greece, so the Jewish people played with the dreidel in order to fool the Greeks if they were caught.
• Gifts Are Only Given Because It’s Close To Christmas. Gift-giving isn’t a traditional part of Hanukkah, but kids were given gelt money as an incentive to study the Torah.
• There Are 16 Ways To Spell Hanukkah. Since Hanukkah is transliterated from Hebrew letters, there are many ways to spell the holiday’s name. The most common in English is “Hanukkah” or “Chanukah.”
• Hanukkah gelt is a gift of chocolate coins given during the Hanukkah holiday. The money is often given during the Dreidel game.
• What is Hanukkah? The word Hanukkah means “dedication.” The holiday commemorates the triumph of a band of rebel Jews known as the Maccabees in reclaiming their temple from the Greek-Syrians.
• People fry their food in oil for Hanukkah as a symbol of the miracle oil that burned for eight nights.
• Grand Army Plaza in New York Reportedly Has the Largest Menorah in the World.  This year, you can see the lighting of the 32-foot-high and 4,000-pound Menorah every night from December 2nd to December 9th.
• Hanukkah in the movies:
  • Menorah in the Middle (2022). A woman brings her fiancé home to meet her parents for Hanukkah, but their plans go awry when the family bakery needs saving.
  • Little Fockers (2010). With an all-star cast including Ben Stiller, Barbara Streisand, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, and so many others, this movie reveals what it might be like to try a combined Christmas and Hanukkah celebration with family.
  • Hanukkah on Rye (2022). This Hallmark Channel movie is a delightful rom-com that pits two Jewish deli owners against each other.
  • Eight Gifts of Hanukkah (2021). Hallmark’s first Hanukkah film is also a romantic comedy, in which Inbar Lavi and Jake Epstein portray two friends who may become more than friends.
• 32 feet – The height of the Menorah at the Grand Army Plaza in New York, the largest in the world.
• 4 – The four-sided spinning top was invented as a distraction when the Greek-Syrians had outlawed Jewish studies, so the Jews spun dreidels to pretend they were merely playing games while they engaged with their scripture.
• 5 – The number of ingredients used to make potato ‘latkes’, or potato pancakes — a delicious Hanukkah specialty.
• 9 – The menorah holds nine candles, eight of which represent each night of Hanukkah.
• 40,000 – The estimated number of soldiers the Maccabees, led by Judah the Strong, defended themselves against.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Funology

Town and Country Magazine

Good Housekeeping

National Today

Days of the Year