When is Hanukkah 2024?
Hanukkah 2024, the Feast of Dedication, the Festival of Lights, a celebration established in 1 & 2 Maccabees… is upon us! The first night of Hanukkah 2024 begins Wednesday, December 25 at sunset.
For eight nights, until January 2 at sunset, the hanukkiah around the world is lit, and the events of the Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the temple are remembered.
What do you do each night of Hanukkah?
Continue reading for 13 Hanukkah family traditions and activities!
Should Non-Jewish Torah Keepers Celebrate Hanukkah?
For non-Jewish followers of Yeshua who walk in the Torah, the question of Hanukkah is controversial. Some do celebrate. Others do not.
For one, Hanukkah is not a Biblically commanded appointed time or celebration.
At the same time, its historical origins are known (1 Macabees 1-4) to not be pagan (in fact, it is to be kept in the manner of Sukkot- 2 Macabees 10:6), and the issues which Hanukkah addresses and celebrates (YHVH’s faithfulness, the temple being restored, and freedom to read Torah) are relevant to Gentile followers of YHVH as well as native born Israelites.
And they kept eight days with gladness in the manner of the Feast of Tabernacles, remembering how that not long before, during the Feast of Tabernacles, they were wandering in the mountains and in the caves after the manner of wild beasts. Wherefore bearing wands wreathed with leaves, and fair boughs, and palms also, they offered up hymns of thanksgiving to Him that had prosperously brought to pass the cleansing of His own place.
2 Maccabees 10:6-7
Furthermore, it is likely we have Scriptural evidence that Yeshua kept Hanukkah Himself, as John makes mention that Yeshua walked in the temple on the Feast of Dedication (“hanukkah” means “dedication) in John 10:22-24. Certainly, he does not explicitly say, “Yeshua kept the Feast of Dedication,” or “Yeshua celebrated Hanukkah.” But that John specifies it is Hanukkah, which is a celebration all about the temple, and then Yeshua is in the temple where many others would have been for the express purpose of the celebration does seem more than coincidental.
That being said, Hanukkah is not a commanded appointed time. We have liberty within Torah to celebrate or not to celebrate.
Is Hanukkah a Christmas Replacement?
For the non-Jewish believer in YHVH, the issue of Hanukkah occurring around the same time as Christmas each year can cause one to be wary. Many of us formerly celebrated Christmas and do not wish to continue in those traditions but under the new name of “Hanukkah.”
Christmas, for many of us, was also the “biggest holiday of the year,” and so it can be tempting to make Hanukkah a more important celebration to us than feasts that actually are commanded.
To the Messianic follower of YHVH, I encourage you to take your time. Do your own study on Hanukkah. Choose what traditions you will and will not have in your own home. There’s no rush and no pressure to conform.
In our family, we celebrate Hanukkah as an Independence Day. In no way does it resemble Christmas. And why should it? The purposes of each respective holiday are completely different.
We also did not jump into celebrating Hanukkah our first year of walking in Torah. I needed a bit of distance from Christmas first.
Over time, we have made decisions about what traditions we will and will not do at Hanukkah.
Though family and friends occasionally wish to give our children “Hanukkah gifts,” and we allow it from them, gift giving during Hanukkah is a tradition we have chosen to not incorporate in our home because of the time of year and its proximity to Christmas.
Hanging string lights, on the other hand, is a tradition we do. (Usually, I have them up well before Hanukkah, though, so this is more of a “winter” tradition, due to darkness, than a Hanukkah celebration. Nevertheless, we do it at this time of year when others may be stringing lights for Christmas.)
You’ll have to come to your conclusions about Hanukkah in your family.
If you are concerned about using Hanukkah as a Christmas replacement, I encourage you to give yourself and your family some distance from Christmas first, before beginning to celebrate Hanukkah. And then give yourself time to figure out how you will celebrate, if you choose to do so.
13 Hanukkah Traditions for Kids
If you are celebrating Hanukkah this year, here are 13 ideas to inspire a meaningful and fun eight nights of Hanukkah!
1. Read the Hanukkah story and retell it creatively! You can reenact it, illustrate it, rewrite it in your own book, create an acrostic poem with the word “Hanukkah” or the word “Dedication,” write a song about it— the ideas are endless!
2. Learn about the temple & build it gingerbread style! (Or with anything else- graham crackers/Biblically clean marshmallow paste, magnatiles, LEGOS— you decide!)
3. Decorate donuts as a family! (Homemade donut recipe & process in the video link below!!)
4. Have a hanukkiah lighting party with friends! It’s a BYOH- Bring Your Own Hanukkiah! This is most impressive when done on the 8th night when all the candles are lit, but even a few candles on each hanukkiah can shed a brilliant light!
5. Play the dreidel game! Each player has a small handful of chocolates or delectable treats and spins the dreidel in turn to know what to do. Shin- the player adds one piece to the middle. Heh- the player gets half of the bounty from the middle. Gimel- the player gets all the goodies from the middle. Nun- the player does nothing.
6. Speaking of the dreidel game, make your own dreidel out of clay and sing the dreidel song:
I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay.
And when it’s dry and ready, Then dreidel I shall play!
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay.
And when it’s dry and ready, Then dreidel I shall play!
The Maccabeats Dreidel Rendition Link– which version will you sing?
7. Create a latke bar with every topping imaginable! Sour cream and applesauce may be traditional (and delicious!), but don’t let that stop you from experimenting with different flavors! Play it safe with avocado or grilled peppers, or go wild with ice cream topped latkes! (Sweet and salty, anyone?) Get creative!
8. Blow the shofar of freedom!
9. Jam out to Hanukkah music and have a dance party in the living room! We love the Maccabeats!
10. Decorate the home in a festive fashion! As Hanukkah is a winter celebration, decorate in a wintry theme, with twinkling lights, snowflakes, blues, golds, and glitter. Olive branches, pomegranates, and almond flowers also remind us of the temple and are fun to decorate with in garlands!
11. Hanukkah hop! Celebrate with your friends in each other’s homes!
12. Shoot off fireworks! (Or shoot boom booms- safely, of course. My husband specifically asked I include this one…. It is true that though this tradition is not politically correct, it’s one we do nearly every year.) It’s independence from tyrannical government!
13. And in everything, continually give YHVH thanks for the faithfulness He has shown His people and for the ability to freely worship Him today! Wave branches, as in the original Hanukkah celebration. Go around the table and share what you’re thankful for. Fill a jar with gratitudes and read a few every night. However you do it, just keep a heart of thankfulness.
Whether you celebrate Hanukkah or not, I pray your winter season is blessed, free, and full of joy.
Now! Grab your Hanukkah 2024 Planning page!!
Use this planning page to write your plans and meals for each night. This free printable features a hanukkiah image to show you which candles are being lit each night (44 candles needed altogether), reading suggestions, and a few of the celebration ideas listed here!
Much shalom to you!
Raquel
Women Living Torah 