Hanukkah

Also spelled Chanukkah. A Jewish festival, commemorating the second century B.C. victory of the Israelite Maccabees against a much larger Greek-Assyrian force. This victory enabled the Israelites to re-dedicate their Temple in Jerusalem. Hanukkah lasts eight days and is marked by the successive kindling of eight lights in memory of how a single flask of oil was miraculously sufficient to light the Temple's menorah over the course of eight days.