LIHUE — The menorah with its sole lamp burning drew little attention from shoppers at Kukui Grove passing the arrangement near the Keiki Korner play area, even though a radio advertisement from Kukui Grove also offered “Happy holidays, and Happy Hanukkah.”
Hanukkah 2024 started at sundown on Dec. 25 and will end the evening of Jan. 2, a total of eight nights.
“This is a rare moment when Hanukkah coincides with Christmas,” said Melissa McFerrin Warrack of the Kukui Grove management team.
According to The Farmer’s Almanac website, Hanukkah’s dates vary because it is always on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar. These dates on the lunar calendar do not always line up with the Gregorian calendar, and Hanukkah usually occurs anywhere from late November to late December.
The Hebrew calendar, the Farmer’s Almanac said, is largely used to determine the dates of Jewish holidays and which sections of the Torah should be read.
Kukui Grove said that Christmas was a holiday for the shopping center, and the first lamp on the menorah was autoset by the timer. Subsequent days will have a lamp lit for each of the eight days that follow.
Kukui Grove General Manager David Sosner said there will be Hanukkah children activities taking place on Sunday from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. when the Jewish people will start a caravan heading north for further ceremony.
Hanukkah, according to the My Jewish Learning website, is Hebrew for “dedication,” or the Festival of Lights.
Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army in 165 BCE (Before Christian Era), and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and restoring its menorah, or lamp.
The Farmer’s Almanac said the holiday honors and celebrates one of the first recorded fights for religious freedom, and the success of this fight.
Once the Jewish people regained the temple, they wanted to purify it by burning ritual oil for eight days. But they had only enough oil for one night. The miracle of Hanukkah was that the oil lasted for the full eight days, thus burning candles and celebrating for eight days is part of this holiday, the website said.
During Hanukkah celebrations, My Jewish Learning said, the menorah is lit at home — each night one additional candle is lit to the number from the previous night, playing dreidel, and eating special foods unique to Hanukkah. Some people also sing Hanukkah songs or exchange gifts after lighting the menorah, and many people host and attend Hanukkah parties.
Many Hanukkah foods are deep-fried in oil, symbolizing the oil from the menorah used in the Temple, My Jewish Learning said. These include latkes, or potato pancakes, and jelly donuts. Other favorites include the Sephardic delicacy bimuelos, applesauce as a latke topping, and chocolate gelt, a candy that gets its name from the Yiddish word for “money.”
The Farmer’s Almanac said the last time Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah occurred on Dec. 25 was in 2005, and the next time Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah takes place will be in 2035.
In 2025, the first day of Hanukkah starts at sundown on Dec. 14 and ends at sundown on Dec. 22.
