WASHINGTON – The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the “Festival of Lights,” begins this week.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after a small group called the Maccabees defeated the Greco-Syrian army. During the battle, the Jews only had enough oil to light the Temple menorah for one night, but the oil was enough for eight nights.

Here are some of the most common Hanukkah questions traditionally asked about the holiday, according to Google Trends data.

This year, the first night of Hanukkah falls on Wednesday, December 25th – Yes, Hanukkah begins on Christmas Day for 2024.

This is only the fifth time since 1910 that the first night of Hanukkah also falls on Christmas Day. The last time this happened was in 2005. It also happened in 1910, 1921 and 1959.

The next time Hanukkah falls on Christmas will be in 2035.

Since 1902, the first day of Hanukkah, which begins at sunset, has fallen on Christmas Eve four times (1902, 1940, 1978 and 2016).

Every year, Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, unlike the Gregorian calendar used in most parts of the world, which is a solar calendar.

Due to the calendar difference, the start of Hanukkah appears to be delayed. This year it starts on Christmas Day and in 2013 the “Festival of Lights” even coincided with Thanksgiving, which won’t happen again until the year 79,811.

Hanukkah lasts eight days.

Each night of Hanukkah, you light one candle for each night, plus an additional candle called ” Shamash, the “auxiliary candle” that is lit first each evening and lights all the others.

So, on the first night of Hanukkah, that Shamash is lit, along with another candle.

Over the course of the eight nights of Hanukkah, 44 candles are used.

After Shamash, The first candle is placed in the rightmost spot on the menorah. On the second night, a second candle is also added immediately to the left of the previous night’s candle and so on for all eight nights. However, you light the newest candle first (whichever is furthest to the left of the menorah) and then continue from left to right.

So while candles are placed from right to left, you light them from left to right.

Traditional Hanukkah dishes include fried potato pancakes, called latkes, and jelly donuts, so-called sufganiyot. Latkes and sufganiyot are typically fried and are meant to commemorate the Hanukkah miracle, where the oil lasts for eight nights.