This December<\/a>, whether you’re traveling near or far, check out these Hanukkah festivities around the world for the holiday experience of a lifetime!<\/p>\n The story of Hanukkah took place in Jerusalem around 200 BCE, when Jewish priests rededicated the city\u2019s Second Temple using just a few drops of oil. Today, international<\/a> visitors to the Holy Land spend the eight nights of the holiday on candlelit tours of the historic Old City. Menorahs glow in the windows of Jerusalem\u2019s large Jewish population. <\/span><\/p>\n At the Western Wall, rabbis light a menorah and musicians perform traditional Hanukkah songs. Jerusalem\u2019s cultural centers honor the holiday with their own traditions. In past years, the Ein Yael Museum<\/a> has held educational and events and festivals to honor the Festival of Lights.<\/span><\/p>\n New York City is home to the world\u2019s largest Jewish population outside of Israel. So it\u2019s no surprise that Hanukkah in the Big Apple is a big deal. In Brooklyn, Park Slope\u2019s vibrant Jewish community lights a 32-foot tall steel menorah each night of the holiday. The lightings are accompanied by hot latkes and live music. Meanwhile, \u201cChanukah on Ice<\/a>\u201d brings festive cheer to Central Park, where families skate to Jewish music, enjoy kosher food, and witness the illumination of an ice menorah. And NYC\u2019s iconic Jewish delis offer up a host of Hanukkah favorites, from matzo ball soup to scrumptious <\/span>sufganiyot<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Jewish community in Rome is one of the oldest, making this city home to one of the most unusual Hanukkah festivities around the world. During the Dark Ages, Rome\u2019s Jews were forced into a ghetto east of the Tiber River. Today, the area is a thriving Jewish quarter, where Hanukkah is a chance to celebrate the Jewish people\u2019s resilience. Typical festivities include a menorah lighting in Piazza Barberini<\/a> and a rousing street party on Via del Portico d’Ottavia. The Great Synagogue of Rome<\/a> offers family-friendly fare, like dreidel games. And of course, there\u2019s the food. The Italian-Jewish <\/span>fratelle\u00a0de\u00a0chanuka<\/span><\/i>\u2014fritters with raisins, lemon, and honey\u2014are unmissable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [Image above “5<\/a>” by Chabad Lubavitch<\/a> on Flickr – licensed under CC by 2.0<\/a>]<\/em><\/p><\/div>The biggest Hanukkah celebration in the UK takes place in London\u2019s Trafalgar Square. There, a large menorah, or <\/span>chanukiah,<\/span><\/i> is lit up each night of the holiday. But the city\u2019s tallest menorah glows in Golders Green, a niche in northwest London known for its Jewish community. Jewish families took refuge in this area after World War I and continue to make Hanukkah an annual spectacle. Besides the menorah lighting, you can expect all manner of outdoor festivities. Past events have included trapeze artists, balloon sculptors, live music, and free doughnuts from neighborhood bakeries. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n San Francisco’s City Hall, First Night of Hanukkah<\/p><\/div>\n The Festival of Lights is fun for everyone in the funky city of San Francisco<\/a>. The city\u2019s Jewish population actually introduced the first giant public menorah outside of Israel, which has been adopted by celebrations around the world. The tradition continues in Union Square on each night of Hanukkah. <\/span><\/p>\n The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco<\/a> offers its own ceremonial lighting and a variety of family-friendly events. Local restaurants provide mouth-watering Jewish cuisine with an eclectic Cali twist. Past menus around the city have featured Ashkenazi Jewish <\/span>tzimmes<\/span><\/i> in Spanish tortillas, duck fat fried latkes, and even Kung Pao pastrami!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mumbai\u2019s Jewish community is small, but its roots are ancient. Of course, Mumbai<\/a> is often associated with a different Festival of Lights: Diwali. Indeed, Hanukkah in India\u2019s west coast metropolis bears striking similarities to the Hindu holiday and often takes place around the same time. Revelers fill the night with songs, sweets, well wishes, and of course, lights. Rabbis illuminate a massive menorah in front of the Gateway of India during Hanukkah. Elsewhere in the city, people burn oil lamps instead of candles. The tradition of oil-based cooking lives on in dishes like <\/span>piaju, <\/span><\/i>which are fried onion lentil fritters.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You Might Also Enjoy: Three of the Oldest Synagogues in the World That You Can Visit<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Jewish Americans began settling in Chattanooga, Tennessee before the Civil War. Today, the Jewish community brings a distinct flavor to the southern riverside city. The Chabad of Chattanooga<\/a> puts on an annual \u201cMenorah Car Parade.\u201d A procession of vehicles, each crowned with a menorah, cruises through the downtown area for the Chanukah on Ice<\/a> event. At the end of the parade, rabbis light up an ice-sculpted menorah at the Chattanooga Choo Choo ice rink. The fun family event encourages the entire city to enjoy the Festival of Lights.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Are there any specific dates for Hanukkah, or does it vary each year?<\/strong> Q: How can I find local Hanukkah celebrations if I’m traveling to a new city?<\/strong> Q: Are there any traditional Hanukkah gifts, and where can I buy them?<\/strong> Q: What is the significance of the menorah and how is it traditionally lit?<\/strong> Q: Are there any specific customs or prayers associated with Hanukkah?<\/strong> Q: Are there any dietary restrictions or traditional foods associated with Hanukkah?<\/strong> Which other Hanukkah festivities around the world have you experienced? Tell us in the comments!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No, it’s not the “Jewish Christmas.” But Hanukkah is a major holiday that Jewish people around the world celebrate. Also known as the “Festival of Lights,” Hanukkah commemorates the story of the Maccabees’ victory against the tyrannical Greek army in ancient Israel and the lamp oil that miraculously lasted for eight days and eight nights. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":98912037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,1476,1502,1508,141,501],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98909216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-food-drink","category-historical-travel","category-holiday-travel","category-travel-inspiration","category-trending"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98909216"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98916072,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909216\/revisions\/98916072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98912037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98909216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98909216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98909216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Jerusalem<\/h1>\n
![\"Hanukkah](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Hanukkah-Festivities-Around-the-World-Jerusalem.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNew York City<\/h1>\n
![\"Hanukkah](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Hanukkah-Festivities-Around-the-World-New-York.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRome<\/h1>\n
![\"Hanukkah](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Hanukkah-Festivities-Around-the-World-Rome.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLondon<\/h1>\n
![\"Hanukkah](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Hanukkah-Festivities-Around-the-World-London-England.jpg\")
San Francisco<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/shutterstock_2085702520.jpg\")
Mumbai, India<\/h1>\n
![\"Hanukkah](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Hanukkah-Festivities-Around-the-World-piaju.jpg\")
<\/p>\nChattanooga, Tennessee<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/otwp-admin.fareportal.com\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/shutterstock_2072462873.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\nFAQs:\u00a0<\/em><\/h1>\n
\nA: Hanukkah dates vary each year as they follow the Jewish lunar calendar. It usually falls in December but can start on different dates.<\/p>\n
\nA: You can find local Hanukkah celebrations in a new city by checking local event listings, contacting local Jewish community centers or synagogues, or searching online for Hanukkah events in that area.<\/p>\n
\nA: Traditional Hanukkah gifts often include gelt (chocolate coins), dreidels (spinning tops), and menorahs. You can buy them at Jewish specialty stores, online retailers, or local markets during the holiday season.<\/p>\n
\nA: The menorah represents the eight days of Hanukkah. Traditionally, one candle is lit each night, starting with the center candle (the shamash) and moving from left to right.<\/p>\n
\nA: Yes, there are specific Hanukkah prayers and customs, including reciting blessings while lighting the menorah and playing the dreidel game. You can find these prayers and instructions in Hanukkah prayer books or online resources.<\/p>\n
\nA: Traditional Hanukkah foods include latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts). There are no specific dietary restrictions, but these foods are often fried in oil to symbolize the miracle of the oil in the Hanukkah story.<\/p>\n