Three Cultures Foundation celebrates the lighting of candles for Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of luminaries

Hanukkah, or the Feast of Luminaries, is the festival on which the Jewish community commemorates the purification and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the rebellion of the Maccabees (168-161 BCE).

When the Maccabees (so called because of Judas Maccabee's nickname, 'the hammer') liberated Jerusalem from Hellenistic oppression in the autumn of 164 BCE, they found the temple desacralised, and the menorah extinguished and without pure oil for more than a day. Even so - according to Talmudic tradition - the menorah remained lit for 8 days, the time it took to obtain new oil, and since then both the rededication of the temple and the miracle of the oil have been celebrated.

This year Chanukah takes place between 18 and 26 December. The celebration at the Three Cultures Foundation headquarters is scheduled for the afternoon-evening of Tuesday 20 December, starting at 17h45, and includes the ritual lighting of the third candle after sunset, followed by the recitation of the corresponding blessings (berachot) and the reading, by a representative of the Jewish Community of Seville, of an explanatory text about the tradition, as well as two stories about Chanukah.

Due to its nature as a family and child-oriented festival, this year there will also be activities aimed at this public, such as a tasting of fritters (a typical dish for the occasion in the Sephardic tradition, due to its relationship with oil), the making of drawings alluding to the festival or the game of the spinning top - which is played with a spinning top called a sevivon, and with which chocolates or sweets are bet on.

To attend it is necessary to register in advance at THIS LINK.