Hanukkah 2024 begins at sundown on Wednesday, December 25 and ends the evening of Thursday, January 2, 2025 (8 nights). Hanukkah means “dedication” and is a holiday that honours and celebrates one of the first recorded fights for religious freedom and the success of this fight. It commemorates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 BCE.