How many days until Hanukkah?

Hanukkah dates for the coming years

How the date is set

The Hebrew calendar follows both the moon and the sun, so Hanukkah falls on a different Gregorian date each year, usually between late November and late December. Jewish days begin at sundown, so the festival starts on the evening before the first full day, when the first candle is lit. The countdown above runs to the first full day; the table shows the evening it begins.

What Hanukkah remembers

Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE, after the Maccabean revolt. Tradition says that a single day’s supply of oil kept the Temple lamp burning for eight days, which is why the festival lasts eight nights.

How it is celebrated

Each night one more candle is lit on a nine-branched menorah (hanukkiah), using a helper candle called the shamash. Foods fried in oil, such as latkes and sufganiyot (doughnuts), are traditional, and children play with a spinning top called a dreidel.