John 10 mentions Jesus at the Feast of Dedication, the Jewish festival now generally called Hanukkah. John 10:22 places the scene in Jerusalem and adds that it was winter.
The Feast of Dedication commemorated the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple after its desecration under the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The Maccabean revolt restored Jewish worship, and the festival became an annual eight-day observance beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, usually falling in November or December.
In John 10, Jesus is described as walking in Solomon’s Colonnade at the Temple. The surrounding conversation concerns his identity, his relationship with the Father, and the claim that he and the Father are one. The passage therefore connects a Christian theological debate with a Jewish historical festival.
A common mix-up is assuming Hanukkah is mentioned throughout the New Testament. John 10 contains the New Testament’s only explicit reference to the Feast of Dedication. The passage does not describe modern candle-lighting customs in detail; it identifies the season and setting of Jesus’ teaching.