I love the Christmas Holiday season. I like the bright lights, the smell of evergreens and the faces of happy children. Sometimes I forget that there are other celebrations that happen around this same time of year. Those being: Bodhi Day (Buddha's Enlightenment), the Moslem fast of Ashura, the new African American Kwanzaa celebration, and most particularly Hanukkah.
Hanukkah used to be a minor secular Jewish celebration, but thanks to the commercial nature of Christmas, it now has become a prominent Jewish Holiday. 

The story behind Hanukkah goes back well over two millennia to the third century BC.
In 334 BC, Alexander defeated the Persian Armies of Darius III and the Persian Empire ceased to exist. Everything that belonged to Darius now belonged to Alexander, including the Jews.
According to Max I. Dimont's book "Jews, God and History.
For some unexplained reason, the hot-tempered Jews did not fight Alexander… The High Priest of Jerusalem headed a formal procession to welcome Alexander. The Macedonian king took an instant liking to these "fierce barbarians" who, to his great astonishment, carried no visible gods with them. He granted them internal political and religious freedom, an act that made him the "patron saint" of the Jews…
The Jews loved everything Greek. They adopted the language, the culture and with the exception of the religion, tried to become more Greek than the Greeks themselves.

Unfortunately, things do have a way of changing. Alexander died and if there is one thing that the old Greeks liked to do, it was fight. If the Greeks couldn't fight other people, they'd fight each other. His three generals split the empire. Antigonus grabbed Greece, Seleucus took Asia Minor and Syria and Ptolemy grabbed Egypt and what used to be Judea. 
For 125 years the Seleucids and Ptolemys fought over the control of the Jews land and finally the Seleucid king Antiochus III, succeeded in wresting Israel/Judea away from the Ptolemys.

Antiochus III died and his son Antiochus Epiphanies took the throne. Young Antiochus had big plans. He dreamed of becoming another Alexander, and the first thing he wanted to do was make the Jews even more Greek.
He, with the help of Hellenic Jews, appointed a High Priest named Jason, who decided it was a good time to change some of their religious practices. Jason brought Greek statues into the Temple, had his priests wear Grecian robes and perform Greek cultic rites. According to Dimont's book: Greek games performed by naked Jewish boys became a common spectacle in the temple courtyards.
This did not sit well with the majority of the Jewish people and they revolted. They called themselves the Hasideans.

The first Hasidean revolt was quickly put down, but Antiochus overreacted. He senselessly slaughtered 10,000 residents (including Jews friendly to his cause). He installed new statues of Greek Gods in the Temple. He slaughtered pigs in the temple and permeated the Holy of Holies with their blood.
Mattathias, an old rural Jewish priest, set off a second rebellion in the small town of Modiin. A Greek official tried to get him to perform a pagan sacrifice. The old man refused and killed the official. People rallied around Mattathias and this lit the spark for a second rebellion.

Antiochus immediately tried to put this rebellion down, but instead of succeeding saw his armies totally destroyed. Mattathias and his five sons became known as the Maccabees (Hebrew for Hammer) because of the hammer like gorilla tactics that they used against the Greek armies.
In 164 BC, the army of the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem. The temple was cleansed and rededicated back to God. In order to purify the temple, the priests needed to burn ritual oil for eight days. They discovered that they only had a single days supply of oil, they lit the oil and it miraculously lasted for all 8 days. 
Today, during Hanukkah Jews light one candle each night for 8 nights on a special Menorah. They celebrate by giving gifts, eating fried foods, singing songs and playing games.

Antiochus immediately tried to put this rebellion down, but instead of succeeding saw his armies totally destroyed. Mattathias and his five sons became known as the Maccabees (Hebrew for Hammer) because of the hammer like gorilla tactics that they used against the Greek armies.
In 164 BC, the army of the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem. The temple was cleansed and rededicated back to God. In order to purify the temple, the priests needed to burn ritual oil for eight days. They discovered that they only had a single days supply of oil, they lit the oil and it miraculously lasted for all 8 days. 

Today, during Hanukkah Jews light one candle each night for 8 nights on a special Menorah. They celebrate by giving gifts, eating fried foods, singing songs and playing games.

I love the holiday season. It is a bright time of joy and a time of celebration.
Both Jews and Christians have things bright and cheerful, to share this time of year.
Wishing everyone, a very, very happy holiday season.