And now, children, sit down and listen for the story of Hannukah!
A long time ago in Israel there was a cruel king called Antiochus. He hated Jews, and imposed many horrible laws, including banning Shabbat, banning reading the Torah, and more.
There was a temple/synagogue that was very important to the Jewish people. In it, there was a tall, beautiful golden Menorah. Each evening, the Menorah would be lit and it would fill the temple with a beuatiful radiant light.
Antichochus sent his army to destroy the temple, which was a sign of hope for many opressed Jews. When the temple was destroyed, a Jewish man called Macabee and his followers gathered their corauge and drove the horrible king out of their land.
They went back to the destroyed temple to find the beuatiful Menorah destroyed. They built a new one and wanted to light it once more, but all they could find was one small pot of oil. They sent people to go get more oil but that would take eight days, and they knew that the oil they had would only last them one night.
But, a miracle! The little flame burnt for all the eight days, long enough to keep cleaning the Temple and to get more oil!
So we celebrate Hannuka now to honour the banishment of the horrible king and getting rid of his horrible laws, and the miracle of that little flicker of hope lasting long enough for that journey for the oil to be completed.
(also we get one small present for each day🎁)
The 🕎Menorah has 8 small candles and one big candle in the middle. Hannukah starts on the first night, not the day, and that's when you light the big middle candle and use it to light the first small candle. On the second night you use the big one to light the second one, and so forth.
Hope you've learned something!
