The eight days of Hanukkah Hanukkah is a religious holiday celebrated by the Jews, it involves the lighting of eight candles, one each day. Some people say that Hanukkah is basically a Jewish Christmas, but that's not the case, no holiday is celebrated the same way as Hanukkah. Besides, what holiday has more than three names is Hanukkah. Its names are Hanukkah, Hanukkah, Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication and Feast of the Maccabees. How Hanukkah Began Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it was reclaimed from the Syrian Greeks. The Temple was recaptured by the leaders of the Jews, who fought the Syrian Greeks; these rulers were known as the Maccabees. When the Maccabees again captured the Temple in Jerusalem, they became the priests of the Temple, they also became the rulers of the Jewish cities. When the Temple was recaptured it only had one day's worth of olive oil for their remaining candles, they lit it anyway and to everyone's surprise the oil continued to burn for eight days whole, from which come the eight days of Hanukkah (Neusner, 20...