Celebrations of the World

History & Activities

Oprah Winfrey once said, “The more you celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” In that spirit, this page will be filled with information about the joyful holidays and incredible traditions that take place throughout the world. For our first piece, we started with Hanukkah!

The Story of Hanukkah

Many years ago, the land now known as Israel was ruled by a king and there were many Jewish people in his kingdom. The ancient Second Temple in the City of Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life at this time.

The king was not very nice. He wanted to force everyone to do what he wanted, and he tried to destroy many of the Jewish traditions. Some Jewish people were very brave and strong and fought back. They were called the Maccabees. Like many before them, they fought for the freedom to live and worship. They won the battle and took back the temple!

Back then, there was no electricity, and in order to light the temple, they needed oil for their special lamps. They also needed pure oil for the holy lamp which was called a menorah. The temple only had enough pure oil for one day, but they needed eight days to make new oil. That was when the miracle happened! As if by magic, that little bit of oil lasted for eight days!

They cleaned up the mess the king had made and, when they were all done, they had a ceremony to celebrate their success. They called it Hanukkah, which means “dedication.” At Hanukkah, Jewish people light the Menorah to celebrate the oil lasting eight days. The festival reminds us to add light to the darkness and to promote freedom for everyone in the world.

Hanukkah Symbols

• Language: Hebrew is the language of the Jewish people.

• Alphabet: Hebrew has its own unique alphabet.

• Israel: Many Jewish people live in Israel, which is in the Middle East. It is a special place for many religions, and Jerusalem is the location of the ancient temple.

• Time of Year: Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of the month of Kislev—it is based on the Jewish calendar, which has twelve to thirteen months. Hanukkah starts at different times each year because of the conversion to our traditional calendar!

• Star of David: This is the symbol of the Jewish people.

• Menorah: This is the type of lamp they used many years ago.

• Eight Days & Eight Candles: Each day and each candle represent one night the oil lasted.

• Dreidel: This toy has Hebrew letters on each side which spell out the phrase: “A Great Miracle Happened There.” It is a spinning top game played by many children during Hanukkah.

• Foods: Jewish people make latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) at Hanukkah. Both are fried in oil since oil was part of the miracle of Hanukkah.