Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish festival that commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE. It starts on the 25th day of the ninth moon according to the Hebrew calendar (December 7, this year, 2023), which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is also known as the "Festival of Lights" because of the tradition of lighting a candelabra with nine branches, each night of Hanukkah. The candelabra is used in place of the menorah which actually had seven lamps made from pure gold.
