The Jewish festival of Hanukkah lasts eight nights.
Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar and commemorates the Maccabean recovery and rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century BCE. Each evening, another light is added to a Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, until eight festival lights burn on the final night.
The ninth branch holds the shamash, the “helper” candle used to light the others; it does not add a ninth night. The holiday’s eight-day duration is traditionally connected with the account that a small supply of consecrated oil burned for eight days. Hanukkah’s dates move on the Gregorian calendar because the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, but its duration remains eight nights. It is also commonly spelled Chanukah or Hanukah.