Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on
the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur from
late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.
The festival is
observed by the kindling of the lights of a nine-branched Menorah or Hanukiah,
one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the
final night. The typical Menorah consists of eight branches with an additional
raised branch (a shamash) which is used to the Hanukkah lights which cannot be
used for this purpose. When lighting the Hanukkah light, the following prayer
is said: "Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, Who
performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time..."
First and Second Maccabees recount the purification and
rededication of the Temple. The miracle of the one-day supply of oil
miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, written about
600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees. After the
forces of Antiochus IV had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees
discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They
found only a single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with only
enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. When they
used this, it burned for eight days, the time it needed to have new oil pressed
and readied.
