Hanukkah Countdown

Eight nights of light, latkes, and spinning dreidels.

How many days until Hanukkah?

Live countdown to Hanukkah 2027 (estimated — confirmed by moon sighting)

About Hanukkah

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights: eight nights of menorah lighting, gifts, and fried foods commemorating the Temple rededication. Dates shift yearly on the Hebrew calendar (estimates above — confirm locally).

The story behind Hanukkah

The story is an eight-day miracle squeezed into one day's oil. In 165 BCE, the Maccabees rededicated the Jerusalem Temple after driving out its occupiers, and found only one sealed cruse of consecrated oil — enough for a single night. The menorah burned for eight, and the holiday commemorates that light.

The dreidel's letters hide a history lesson: nun, gimel, hei, shin stand for "nes gadol haya sham" — "a great miracle happened there." The gambling game itself likely evolved from an older spinning top called a teetotum, adopted so children could join the holiday.

Food is theology: the fried latkes and sufganiyot commemorate the oil. Cheese dishes recall another story — the heroine Judith, who fed wine and cheese to an enemy general before his downfall. Eight nights of gifts are actually a modern adaptation, borrowed in scale from the Christmas season around it.

Hanukkah dates 2027–2030 (estimated — confirmed by moon sighting)

Hanukkah facts

• Hanukkah runs eight nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar — late November to late December.
• The holiday commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in 165 BCE and the miracle of oil lasting eight nights.
• One candle is added each night on the menorah, lit by the shamash (helper candle).
• Traditional foods are fried in oil: latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts).