2017 Hanukkah starts from the night of December 12th until December 20th. Every December, Jewish people from all over the world celebrating the happiness of Hanukkah.
During the Second Temple time in Jerusalem, the Holy Temple was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BC, Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the temple altar, along with the prohibition of practicing other Jewish commandments.
Antiochus’s actions provoked a Jewish revolt. Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons – Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi (“Judah the Hammer”). By 166 BC Mattathias had died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 165 BC the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event. Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, unadulterated and undefiled pure olive oil with the seal of the kohen gadol (high priest) was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. But throughout the whole temple, only one flask of oil was found with enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, exactly the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of kosher oil for the menorah.
That is why the Jews celebrate the eight-day festival, which was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.
