Hanukkah 2026: Dates, Candle Guide and UK Timings

Last verified 27 September 2026 against Hebcal’s diaspora calendar and the official GOV.UK bank holidays dataset.

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sunset on Friday 4 December 2026, when the first candle is lit,
and ends at nightfall on Saturday 12 December 2026. The eighth and last candle is lit on Friday 11 December. Both
Fridays of the festival fall just before Shabbat, so in the UK the candles go on early — before 4pm in London.

Hanukkah 2026 night by night

Candles are lit after dark each evening, one more every night, plus the shamash — the “helper”
candle used to light the others. Hanukkah always begins on 25 Kislev in the Hebrew calendar; in 5787 the first candle falls on the English dates below.

Over the eight nights that makes 44 candles in total, so check you have enough before the first night.
The festival’s last day, Saturday 12 December 2026, has no candle lighting of its own: the eighth candle was lit the night before.

Lighting on Friday night before Shabbat

Hanukkah 2026 contains two Friday evenings, Friday 4 December and Friday 11 December. Because no fire is
lit once Shabbat has begun, the Hanukkah candles on those evenings are lit first, shortly before
the Shabbat candles and before sunset. In early December sunset in London is before 4pm, and within a few minutes
of that in Manchester or Leeds, so this is a working-day problem: plan to be home early on both Fridays.

• Use longer candles or more oil on Friday. They are lit earlier than usual but should still be burning
  after dark; the small standard candles often go out too soon.
• Saturday is the reverse. On Saturday 5 December the candles are lit only after Shabbat ends
  at nightfall, usually after Havdalah, so the second candle goes on later than on other nights.
• Check local times. Your synagogue or a Jewish calendar for your town will give exact Shabbat
  times; sunset in Glasgow or Newcastle is earlier than in London at this time of year.

How to light the menorah

The eight-branched Hanukkah lamp is properly called a hanukkiah, though most people in the UK just call it a
menorah. On the first night, one candle goes on the far right; each following night a new candle is added to its
left. The shamash is lit first, blessings are said, and the newest candle is lit first, working left to right.
Many families place the menorah in a window facing the street, to share the light with passers-by. Never leave
lit candles unattended, particularly on a windowsill near curtains.

Why Hanukkah lasts eight days

Hanukkah means “dedication”. It recalls the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Greek rulers of Judea in the
second century BCE, and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it was recaptured. According to the
Talmud, only one day’s supply of pure oil was found to light the Temple menorah, yet it burned for eight days
— the miracle that gives the festival its length and its focus on light and oil.

It is a minor festival in religious terms. There are no work restrictions, schools and offices stay open, and
the celebration happens around the candle lighting each evening. Its high profile today owes much to its place in the winter calendar, close to Christmas.

Traditions: latkes, doughnuts and dreidel

• Latkes. Fried potato pancakes, often with apple sauce or soured cream. Frying in oil is the
  point: it recalls the oil that burned for eight days.
• Sufganiyot. Jam-filled doughnuts, the Israeli favourite, fried for the same reason as latkes.
• Dreidel. A four-sided spinning top marked with the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, hei and shin, standing
  for “a great miracle happened there”. Children play for chocolate coins or sweets.
• Gelt and presents. Chocolate coins (gelt) are traditional; many families also give small presents,
  sometimes one on each night.

Hanukkah 2026 and the UK calendar

Hanukkah is not a bank holiday anywhere in the UK, and in 2026 it ends well before Christmas: the last day,
Saturday 12 December, is almost two weeks ahead of Christmas Day. There is no overlap with any of the
December 2026 bank holidays. For work, the practical issue is the two early Friday finishes; for Jewish staff wanting a day off,
it comes out of ordinary annual leave. Our guide to working on bank holidays covers the general rules, and
Jewish holidays 2026, 2027 and 2028 lists every other festival with the days that affect work.

Hanukkah 2027: it starts on Christmas Eve

In 2027 Hanukkah and Christmas land together. The first candle is lit on Friday 24 December 2027, Christmas
Eve, and the festival ends at nightfall on Saturday 1 January 2028, which is New Year’s Day. Because Christmas Day
and Boxing Day 2027 fall on a weekend, GOV.UK lists the bank holidays as Monday 27 December 2027 and
Tuesday 28 December 2027, in every UK nation — the fourth and fifth nights of Hanukkah.

The New Year’s Day bank holiday for 2028 is also substituted, to Monday 3 January 2028, after Hanukkah has
ended. The upshot for families: the whole of Hanukkah 2027 falls inside the Christmas break for many UK
workers and most schools, with four evenings in the middle when nobody has to be up for work the next morning.
Full dates in Christmas bank holidays 2027 and UK bank holidays 2027; the booking maths for that week is in long weekends in 2027.

Hanukkah 2028

Hanukkah 2028 begins on the evening of Tuesday 12 December 2028 and ends at nightfall on
Wednesday 20 December 2028, a few days before Christmas. None of its dates is a bank holiday; see UK bank holidays 2028.

Public menorah lightings in the UK

The best-known public celebration is in Trafalgar Square. The Jewish Leadership Council puts up a large chanukiah
there alongside the Christmas tree, co-sponsored and supported by the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority,
with one light lit each day of the festival. Its ChanukahLIVE! event, billed by the JLC as featuring
Europe’s tallest menorah, was held on Tuesday 16 December 2025 with music, dancing and food. At the time of checking
(27 September 2026) the JLC had not announced details for Hanukkah 2026, so check its website nearer December.

Beyond London, lightings are usually organised by local synagogues and Jewish community groups,. Dates and places change every year, so your local synagogue is the most
reliable source.