December 24,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Hanukkah begins tonight on Christmas eve. The Jewish winter holiday, which is also spelled Chanukah, begins this year on Dec. 24 and lasts eight days until Jan. 1, 2017. It is celebrated, in part, by the lighting of a menorah each night. Doing so represents the eight nights a small supply of oil miraculously lasted for a small group of Jewish people in 165 B.C. fighting to defeat the Greek army.
Hanukkah, the annual Jewish Festival of Lights, overlaps with Christmas this year for the first time since 1978 and won’t take place again until 2027
Celebrants also often mark the occasion by eating fried foods like latkes, playing children’s games, including the dreidel, and exchanging gifts.
