HANUKKAH

HAPPY HANUKKA

This year Chanukah is well before Christmas and next year it will begin at the end of November. That is because the Jewish Calender is lunar/solar based. The holiday celebratee once again the struggled of a small nation to keep alive the principle of a single god despite the power of a despot who would  force all to worship the pagan gods. It was not until the beginnings of Christianity that the Romans destroyed the Jewish nation and started its people into the Diaspora. The menorah  represents the miracle of the small amount of holy oil that kept the relighted eternal flame going for 8 days after the Maccabees rededicateded the Temple. .

The Hebrew calendar has evolved over time. For example, until the Tannaitic period (approximately 10–220 CE) the months were set by observation of a new crescent moon, with an additional month added every two or three years to correct for the difference between twelve lunar months and the solar year, and therefore, to keep Passover in the spring. The addition of the extra month was also based on observation of natural events, namely the ripening of the barley crop, the age of the kids, lambs and doves, the ripeness of the fruit trees, and the relation to the Tekufah (seasons).^[2] Through the Amoraic period (200 to 500 CE) and into the Geonic period, this system was displaced by mathematical rules. The principles and rules appear to have been settled by the time Maimonides compiled the Mishneh Torah in the 12th century.
Because of the roughly eleven-day difference between twelve lunar months and one solar year, the length of the Hebrew calendar year varies in the repeating 19-year Metonic cycle of 235 lunar months, with the intercalary month added according to defined rules every two or three years,(Wikipedia)

Berenice. in her blog provides several informative links worth checking. .