The Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, celebrated in Europe in a rare coincidence with Christmas

The Jewish religious holiday, Hanukkah, also known as the festival of lights, officially began on Wednesday evening. This year’s Hanukkah festival coincides with Christmas Day for only the fifth time since 1900.

Hanukkah means “dedication”, and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying forces.

The festival is eight days long as with the tiny supply of ritually pure oil the Jewish fighters found in the temple, they lit the menorah and it stayed lit for eight days.

Now, on eight consecutive night falls, Jews observing the festival all over the world gather with family and friends to light one candle each night in a menorah.

The candle lighting must take place after night fall as the purpose of the practice is to bring light into darkness.

The ritual of lighting a nightly candle as well as cooking foods in oil, like potato pancakes known as ‘latkes’, memorialises this miraculously long-lasting oil. The dates of the holiday are based on the Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually coincides with November-December in the Gregorian calendar.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on Wednesday with a delegation of rabbis.

The Ukrainian leader participated in the candle lighting ceremony administered by Chief Rabbi of Dnipro Shmuel Kaminetsky.

“The battle between light and darkness continues. We see that thanks to you, the axis of evil is becoming much weaker, and we will soon defeat it. We will light these candles and hope that the Almighty will help us, and we will pray with everyone to see great miracles soon,” said Kaminetsky addressing Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy congratulated the Jewish community on the holiday and thanked them