Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple after the Maccabean revolt.
The festival recalls the Hasmonean or Maccabean victory over the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV and the restoration of Jewish worship in the Jerusalem Temple in the second century BCE. The Hebrew name Hanukkah is commonly connected with dedication or consecration.
Hanukkah lasts eight nights. A special lamp called a hanukkiah is lit progressively, using one additional festival light each night plus the shamash, the assisting light used to kindle the others. The familiar oil miracle story is central to later rabbinic tradition, while the historical books of 1 and 2 Maccabees emphasize the revolt and Temple rededication.
Hanukkah is sometimes confused with Purim, another Jewish holiday associated with threatened Jewish communities. Purim commemorates events in Persia described in Esther; Hanukkah concerns the Temple and the Maccabean struggle.