Hanukkah - December 2-9 2010
In 2010, Hanukkah will begin on the evening of 1st December.Although many people think Hanukkah is the ‘Jewish Christmas’, in fact it is a holiday that commemorates an altogether different event namely the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian-Greek rulers of Jerusalem in 164BC. One of the central parts of the festival is the recognition of the temple’s being ‘rededicated’. At this time, God made a single day’s worth of oil burn in a lamp for eight whole days.
As a consequence, the festival is also commonly known as the ‘festival of light’. Other people sometimes call it the feast of lights. A 9-candeled candelabra is lit to commemorate the miracle, one new candle being lit on each subsequent night of the festival.
In addition, fried food is often eaten - a reference to the oil that burned in the temple.A typical delicacy is the Latke which is a potato pancake friend and served with apple sauce.
More recently, Jews have started the practise of gift giving - possibly because of the festival’s proximity to Christmas.However, it is not normal for gifts to be exchanged with anyone but other family members.
This year, why not get a Custom Calendars that contains dates of global holidays? Pretty useful if your company operates across borders. Check out our International calendar now!
