What group of people celebrate Hanukkah?

Question

What group of people celebrate Hanukkah? Is it people from a particular country or religion? If so, name the religion/country.

Thanks for answering everybody!!! :)

Wait...Can you name any festivals that involve light? Thanks.

Answer 1

Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah.

Answer 2

Hanukkah as most people beive is a Jewish holiday, but as a matter of fact it is not. The whole thing about the oil and it lasting for seven days is not true. What happened is the Israelites were fighting against the Romans and they were playing a gorilla game where they went into hiding, this lasted for eight days. What other holiday lats for eight days? Sukkot. Long story short Jews do celebrate Hanukkah but its not a holy holiday and is not important if you celebrate it. But if you have kids one may think it is important to give gifts an all of that but Hanukkah is not the time for giving gifts, Purim is. The only reason people give gifts on Hanukkah is because it s close to Christmas. In Israel you would be lucky if you got money on Hanukkah to give to the poor, Purim is the time to get gifts. My rabbi has had long talks and is well known every were. I hope this helps. If you have any more questions you can reach him at [e-mail]

Answer 3

Jews from all countries celebrate Hanukkah. We're not selfish, though - if you want to celebrate Hanukkah too, go right ahead. If it weren't for the victory of the Maccabees, there wouldn't be any Jews, Christians, or Muslims, so in a way, Hanukkah belongs to all those faiths, even if only we Jews generally celebrate it.

Answer 4

Jews from all over the world celebrate Hanukkah.

Answer 5

Jews celebrate Hanukkah any country can celebrate Hanukkah.

Answer 6

any Jewish family or any one who practices Judaism or has converted to Judaism. Definitely people from Israel, however
is celebrated everywhere because there are Jews everywhere
including Italy, Germany, Croatia, Spain, South America/Central
etc...but here is a more detail summary:

Many Jewish holidays commemorate events invested with historical and religious meaning. Hanukkah means "dedication," and it commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by foreign forces. The celebration also reaffirms the continuing struggle to live by God's commandments and to lead Jewish lives.
Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication."
The story of Chanukah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs, the dress, etc., in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.
More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. In 168 B.C.E., Antiochus, seized and dedicated the Jews' holy Temple to the worship of Zeus. Antiochus tried to take away the Jews' religious freedom by outlawing Jewish rituals and ordering the Jews to worship Greek gods. He outlawed circumcision, placed Greek idols in every Jewish town, sacrificed unclean animals in the temple in Jerusalem, forced all the Jews to worship him as their god and those who didn't convert were put to death
A rebellion against Antiochus was started by an old Jewish priest, Mattathias in 167 BCE. The fighting began in Modiin, a village not far from Jerusalem. A Greek officer and soldiers assembled the villagers, asking them to bow to an idol and eat the flesh of a pig, activities forbidden to Jews. The officer asked Mattathias, a Jewish High Priest, to take part in the ceremony. He refused, and another villager stepped forward and offered to do it instead. Mattathias became outraged, took out his sword and killed the man, then killed the officer. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked and killed the soldiers. Mattathias' family went into hiding in the nearby mountains, where many other Jews who wanted to fight the Greeks joined them. They attacked the Greek soldiers whenever possible.
About a year after the rebellion started, Mattathias died. Before his death, he put his brave son Judah Maccabee in charge of the growing army. Because of his great fighting ability, Judah was nicknamed Maccabeus, "The Hammer." After three years of fighting, the Jews defeated the Greek army, despite having fewer men and weapons.
Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and were saddened that many things were missing or broken, including the golden menorah. They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished, they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the Maccabees wanted to light the menorah the candelabrum symbolizing the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people and the continuity of tradition through the generations. They looked everywhere for oil, and found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one day, and it would have taken eight days to make more oil. The legend of the miracle at Hanukkah says that the one day supply of oil burned for eight days and nights until more oil could be made.
Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle.

Answer 7

The Jew,s celebrate Hanukkah,Those who are Jewish

Answer 8

Jewish people celebrate the holiday named Hanukkah.

Answer 9

Hanukkah celebrates the Jewish victory over the Assyrian Greek invaders in the year 165 BCE.

http://www.aish.com/holidays/Chanukah/default.asp

Answer 10

Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah