Discover what Hanukkah’s traditions are and when it begins and ends. Learn about Hanukkah menorah lighting, food, rituals, gifts and history.

How is Hanukkah celebrated? Learn the history of the most common Hanukkah traditions that make up the Festival of Lights.

With the Hanukah miracle revolving around oil, it is customary to celebrate the holiday by eating foods fried in oil. Oil-fried favorites include the potato latke (pancake) garnished with applesauce or sour cream or the jelly-filled sufganya (doughnut), according to Chabad.

The tradition is a reminder of what Jewish practice calls the “miracle of the oil” — a story from later rabbinic tradition commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.E. after a small band of Jewish fighters known as the Maccabees revolted against the Seleucid Empire that had suppressed Jewish worship.

However, the Second Book of the Maccabees (c. 124 BCE), written in Egypt, notes that Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days because it was actually a belated celebration of Sukkot. This is an important fall harvest holiday that the Jews weren't able to celebrate while they fought their oppressors.

Hanukkah 2025: Hanukkah, also known as the 'Festival of Lights', is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays across the world. In 2025, the eight-day Jewish holiday begins at sundown on Sunday, December 14, 2025 and ends with nightfall on Monday, December 22.

This Jewish holiday, also known as the festival of lights, celebrates the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian-Greek army. The Maccabees, an army of Jewish rebels, conquered the Syrian-Greeks who defiled the holy temple in Jerusalem. The Maccabees then reclaimed the temple.

Many people in the states celebrate Hanukkah with lighting a menorah and eating oily foods like doughnuts and potato latkes.

Lighting of the menorah, hot latkes and donuts along with retelling of the Hanukkah miracle are part of the Jewish holiday

As Hanukkah continues, these five movies offer thoughtful, funny and occasionally unexpected ways to mark the holiday.