A friend's Facebook post reminded me that between November 1 and January 15, there will be twenty-nine celebrations in the seven major world religions. I would guess there will be a few others in those traditions that the particular person counting missed. The point is rather obvious: we say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" because many people are celebrating different events, different dreams. I am not going to try to address all, but I have invited Leslie Robbins-Conway to talk about one of this season's celebrations, Chanukah. Cathy

As the days get darker here in Canada, Jews here join others around the world to celebrate Chanukah, our festival of lights. Chanukah, one of the lesser Jewish holidays, is an eight day celebration which begins this year on Christmas eve.

The eight-day Jewish celebration, known as Chanukah or Hanukkah, commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C.E. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. It is surmised that rabbis in the early centuries of the common era were familiar with the Books of the Maccabees, the historical source of the holiday of Chanukah. However, the earliest written references occur in the 5th century C.E. collections of the Apocrypha.

The story is told that in the year 168 B.C.E., the Syrian tyrant Antiochus IV Epiphanes sent his soldiers to Jerusalem in the Land of Israel. They desecrated the Temple, the holiest place for Jews at that time. Antiochus also abolished Judaism, outlawing the observance of Shabbat and the Festivals, as well as circumcision. Altars and idols were set up for the worship of Greek gods and he offered Jews two options: conversion or death. The Temple was renamed for the Greek god Zeus. A resistance movement— led by a priestly family known as the Maccabees—developed against the cruelty of Antiochus. The head of the family was Mattathias, an elderly priest. His son, Judah, became the chief strategist and military leader of the resistance along with his five brothers. Though outnumbered, Judah Maccabee and his fighters miraculously won two major battles, routing the Syrians decisively.

Chanukah, which means "dedication," is the festival that commemorates the purification and rededication of the holy Temple in 167 B.C.E. following the defilement by the oppressors. A legend arose that the priests could only find one tiny jar of oil for the holy eternal lamp. Legend tells us that a miracle happened and the tiny bit of oil lasted eight days until more holy oil could be procured. Thus, we celebrate for eight nights and days.

Over the years and to this day, Jews light wicks in oil or candles on each of the eight nights of the holiday. Oily foods such as "latkes", or potato pancakes, are eaten as well as "sufganiyot", jelly-filled doughnuts.

Around the fifteenth century, Jewish children began playing a "dreidel" game by spinning a top. The four sides of the "dreidel" bore the Hebrew letters - Ness, Gadol, Hayah, Sham- A Great Miracle Happened There. The children used nuts or coins to play the game.

It was only in the mid-twentieth century, especially in North America, that Jewish children began to receive gifts in a desire to assimilate and become like those around them who celebrated Christmas. Nowadays, with many intermarriages and many children having parents of different faiths, the term "Chris-ma-kah" has developed. Jewish children have Chanukahbushes, decorate their homes and rejoice in the new practice of giving Jewish children one small gift on each night of Chanukah.

Nowadays, there are Chanukah parties in homes, synagogues and community centres world-wide where Jewish families and friends gather to light the "menorah" (the candleholder), to share delicious food, and to sing the songs of long ago and the miracle of religious freedom. We are instructed to place the lights of the menorah in a window, so the light of our holiday shines out into the world.

Chanukah is also a time when Jews remember to rededicate themselves to stand against forces that would destroy Judaism and to keep alive the flame of Jewish religion, culture, and peoplehood so that it may be passed on to generations to come.

Leslie Robbins- Conway is a Jewish storyteller and Hebrew teacher for Beth Ezekiel synagogue in Owen Sound. She lives in the bush in Northern Bruce Peninsula.