Most people know that Chanukah (or Hanukkah or Chanuka or any other assortment of spellings) is a Jewish holiday that parallels Christmas in the sense that it comes in the winter and Jews get presents. What most people don't know is the actual story of Chanukah! And despite what "Friends" wants you to believe, the Holiday Armadillo is not a real thing and we do not use it to celebrate Chanukah. To help you get into the holiday spirit, here's a basic overview of the actual story of Chanukah. Tell your friends so that they know too! Spread the word!
Alright, so the story begins at the time of the second temple, which was ruled by King Antiochus. He had more power than anyone could ever believe, and everyone just had to accept it. As history has taught us, with great power comes great ability to steal from people who have less power, and so he did just that. Essentially, his goal was to get the Jews to, you know, stop being Jews.
But lo and behold, Judah Maccabee was totally not about that. Along with a group of cohorts (aka other Jews who were equally enraged), he formed an army. It wasn't a particularly strong army, since it was pretty much thrown together last minute, but it was well worth it. In the end, they fought diligently against Antiochus' significantly stronger army and totally won. It was super awesome for the Jews!
As a result, they cleaned up the second temple of Jerusalem and got rid of all the Greek symbols that were there so they could keep worshiping their G-d. So they put up all the old Jewish symbols. Fun times! It took them till the 25th day of Kislev (which is a month in the Jewish calendar) to actually finish their work.
To celebrate, they decided to turn up by lighting an oil lamp. Not your typical Saturday night turn up, but for ancient Jews, that was quite the rage. Unfortunately, though, they only had enough oil to last one night. Can you imagine? Only one night being lit (aka having light)?!
But, as legend holds, the miracle of Chanukah came to fruition right before their victorious eyes. Instead of lasting one night, it lasted eight craaaaaazy nights (quote Adam Sandler). And that, my friends, is the legend of Chanukah, one of the coolest Jewish holidays we have!
