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Hanukkah

Trafalgar Square
Tuesday 11th December 2007
5 – 7pm
Free Event

Hanukkah, or Chanukah, is the Jewish festival of lights, which usually falls in December. It is celebrated by Jewish communities all over the world and marked by the lighting of the Menorah (candelabrum) as a symbol of religious freedom - including a ceremony at Trafalgar Square on Tuesday 11th December.

This year the Mayor of London and members of London's Jewish community will be marking the occasion with the lighting of a specially designed, 30-ft menorah.

The celebrations will include the menorah lighting ceremony, and performance of Jewish music. Come and join in the celebrations, where you can warm up after the ceremony with free traditional Chanukah fare, including hot potato latkes and doughnuts.

In 2006 the Menorah ceremony at City Hall took place on 20 December, in the presence of community and religious leaders including Rabbi Gershon Overlander of Chabad House Hendon, with the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron.

About the festival

The festival of Hanukkah goes back almost 2,400 years and commemorates the Jewish struggle for religious freedom.

Hanukkah means dedication and is used to remember the Maccabees, a small group of Jews who tried to prevent the desecration of their Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Syrians. The temple was destroyed, but eventually rebuilt by the Jews who lit a Menorah in celebration on its completion. Only a tiny jar of sanctified oil was found in the temple for the purpose, yet the lamp stayed alight for a ‘miraculous’ eight days.

This year Hanukkah takes place between 4 - 11 December

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