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| Dgreetings » About Hanukkah » Hanukkah World » Hanukkah History |
Hanukkah History |
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The Hebrew term, ‘Hanukkah’ signifies devotion. Hanukkah also known as the ‘festival of lights’ is the annual Jewish festival celebrated for eight days and eight nights consecutively. It starts on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar and the months of November and December of the English Calendar.
The festival of Hanukkah is significant as it is celebrated to commemorate the rededication of the holy temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Jews over the Hellenist Syrians in 165 BCE. |
The Greek king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes outlawed Jewish rituals and strictly ordered the Jewish population to worship the Greek deities. In the following BCE the temple of the Jews were seized and dedicated to the worship of the Greek god Zeus. Some Jews revolted and a battle began in Modiin, a place near Jerusalem. The Jewish high priest Matthias was then asked to participate in the ceremony but he refused to do so. When he saw another villager stepped forward to take part in the ceremony he got furious and immediately killed the man and the soldier. His five sons and the other villagers joined in to kill many more soldiers. Then they assembled in a group and took refuge in the nearby mountains and formed a strong army against the Greeks and started attacking them whenever possible.
Later when Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy temple and were disappointed to an extreme extent to find out the disappearance of the golden menorah as well as many other articles. They took the initiative of cleaning and repairing the temple and at the end decoded to have a big dedication ceremony. When the Maccabees looked for oil to light the menorah they found only a small quantity to light the menorah for only one day but surprisingly the oil lasted for eight days, which gave them a sufficient period to gather more oil to keep the menorah forever lighted. This glorious incident contributed to the history of the Jewish civilization and today the Jews celebrate this ‘festival of lights’ by lighting candles in a menorah every night thus commemorating brilliantly the eight-day miracle.
If you are avid to satisfy your curiosity by knowing more about the Hanukkah history then do visit our site D Greetings.
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