JERUSALEM (AP) – Jews in Jerusalem and around the world have started celebrating Hanukkah, an eight-day festival that commemorates ancient miracles and a triumph over oppression.
The holiday began Sunday after sundown with families gathering to light the first nightly candle on the menorah and to exchange gifts.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a Hanukkah ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the holiest site where Jews can pray.
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, commemorates the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom which tried to force its culture on Jews and desecrated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
The holiday lasts eight days because, according to tradition, when the Jews rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem, one vial of oil, enough for one day, burned for eight.
Oily foods such as fried potato pancakes or doughnuts are eaten in commemoration.
