When Is Hanukkah 2026, and Why Does It Start at Sundown?

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, 4 December 2026, when the first candle is lit, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, 12 December. It starts on 25 Kislev 5787 in the Hebrew calendar and lasts eight nights. The evening start follows the Jewish day itself, which runs from sunset to sunset.

Key takeaways

• Hebcal and the Union for Reform Judaism both date Hanukkah 2026 from sundown on Friday, 4 December to nightfall on Saturday, 12 December (25 Kislev to 2 Tevet 5787).
• Hanukkah moves on the Gregorian calendar because the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar: 12 or 13 lunar months, with 7 leap years in every 19.
• 1 Maccabees describes an eight-day rededication of the altar from 25 Kislev; the story of one jar of oil lasting eight days first appears in the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 21b).
• The Jewish day begins at sunset, and nightfall is marked by the appearance of three medium-sized stars.

When is Hanukkah 2026?

Hanukkah 2026 runs from sundown on Friday, 4 December to nightfall on Saturday, 12 December 2026. The first candle is lit on Friday evening, and one more is added each night until all eight burn on Friday, 11 December.

Hebcal, the Jewish calendar service, lists Chanukah 5787 as beginning at sundown on 4 December and ending at nightfall on 12 December, from 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet. The Union for Reform Judaism and a Rutgers University calendar list the same span. Opening on a Friday, it holds two Shabbat evenings, 4 and 11 December.

Dates from Hebcal; weekdays computed from the calendar.

Why does Hanukkah start at sundown?

Hanukkah starts at sundown because every Jewish day does: the day runs from sunset to sunset, so 25 Kislev begins on the evening of 4 December 2026. The pattern follows the creation story in Genesis 1:5, which closes each day with “there was evening and there was morning.”

JewishGen’s introduction to the Jewish calendar puts it plainly: the Jewish day begins at sunset. The stretch between sunset and nightfall, defined as the appearance of three medium-sized stars, has an uncertain status in Jewish law, and for some purposes it still counts as the previous day. That is why Shabbat ends at nightfall rather than at sunset.

For Hanukkah, the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 21b) records that the lights are kindled from sunset until traffic in the marketplace ceases, so they shine in the early dark when people can see them. The same passage places the lamp at the door or in a window facing the street, so that all can see it.

Why does the date of Hanukkah change every year?

Hanukkah always falls on 25 Kislev, but the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, so that date drifts against the Gregorian calendar. According to Hebcal, it can land any time from late November to late December.

Hebrew months follow the moon: each lasts 29 or 30 days and begins with the new moon, JewishGen explains. Twelve lunar months make a year of 353 to 355 days, about 11 days shorter than the solar year. To keep Passover in the spring, the calendar adds a month in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of each 19-year cycle. For how the Western calendar was itself reset, see why ten days vanished in 1582.

Late Kislev is a dark corner of the year in two ways. The moon wanes toward the new moon (8 December 2026, Pacific time), and the holiday always spans Rosh Chodesh Tevet, the start of the next month: in 2026 Hebcal lists Rosh Chodesh on 10 and 11 December, with the seventh day of Hanukkah, 11 December, on Rosh Chodesh. And in the Northern Hemisphere it falls close to the December solstice; in 2026, in the weeks just before it. The Union for Reform Judaism notes that for many people the holiday falls in the darkest, coldest season of the year.

What does Hanukkah commemorate?

Hanukkah, Hebrew for “dedication,” commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees’ victory over the Syrian Greeks. The Union for Reform Judaism dates the victory to 165 BCE; Sefaria’s introduction to 1 Maccabees dates the rededication to 164 BCE. History and tradition tell the story in different sources.

The history in 1 Maccabees. The First Book of Maccabees, a Jewish history of the revolt written in Hebrew around 145–125 BCE (per Sefaria) and now outside the Hebrew Bible, says Judas Maccabeus and his brothers kept the dedication of the altar for eight days and ordained that it be celebrated every year for eight days from the 25th day of the month Kislev (1 Maccabees 4:52–59). It says nothing about oil lasting eight days.

The oil story in the Talmud. The miracle many families tell first appears in the Babylonian Talmud, compiled centuries later. Shabbat 21b says the Hasmoneans found a single sealed cruse of oil, enough for one day, and that it lit the Temple candelabrum for eight days; the following year the Sages made those days a holiday of praise and thanksgiving. It is a rabbinic tradition rather than part of the earlier histories, and for many Jews it is the heart of the holiday.

How do people celebrate Hanukkah?

People celebrate Hanukkah mostly at home in the evening: lighting the menorah (hanukkiyah), one more candle each night, with family and friends. The Union for Reform Judaism describes singing, playing dreidel and eating foods cooked in oil, such as latkes, sufganiyot, bimuelos and keftes de prasas, alongside a growing focus on charity and tikkun olam, the repair of the world.

Timing follows the sun. Hebcal’s 2026 schedule lists the weeknight candles at dusk, the Friday candles of 4 and 11 December before sundown, ahead of Shabbat, and the Saturday candles of 5 December at nightfall, after Shabbat ends. Hebcal publishes local candle-lighting times by city. Practice varies by community, so families follow their own tradition and rabbi.

What do Hanukkah’s evenings mean for the body clock?

Hanukkah gathers people at dusk in some of the longest nights of the year: Encinitas has 10 hours 4 minutes of daylight on 4 December 2026. The holiday’s meaning is religious, not a health claim; how the body responds to dark evenings is a separate question.

Light after dark matters to the body clock. In a retrospective analysis of 116 healthy adults aged 18 to 30 who lived in a clinical research center for at least five days, room light (under 200 lux) in the 8 hours before bedtime, compared with dim light (under 3 lux), delayed the onset of the sleep hormone melatonin in 99% of them and shortened melatonin duration by about 90 minutes (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2011). Candlelight was not tested. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute advises keeping the same bedtime and wake time every day, within about an hour on weekends. For a plan, see how to fix your sleep schedule and the best time to eat dinner. Never leave lit candles unattended.

Your day on My BodyClock

The day above on My BodyClock is a Hanukkah weeknight in Encinitas, planned around an early December sunset. Wake-up is 6:30 AM with a walk in morning daylight, and the work day ends early enough to be home by dusk. Candle lighting with family is at 5 PM, dinner follows at 5:30 PM, and the evening winds down under low, warm light, with sleep at 10:30 PM on all eight nights.

Plan the eight evenings in Owaves: My BodyClock, the World’s First Wellness Planner, Powered by Your Body Clock. Take the Body Clock Type quiz, download Owaves on the App Store, or join the Android waitlist. For more festivals timed by the sky, read when Diwali falls and Samhain and the Celtic year.

FAQ

What day does Hanukkah 2026 start?

Hanukkah 2026 starts at sundown on Friday, 4 December 2026, which is the beginning of 25 Kislev 5787. The first candle is lit that evening, and the first full day of Hanukkah is Saturday, 5 December.

How long is Hanukkah 2026?

Eight nights and eight days. The last candle is lit on the evening of Friday, 11 December, and the holiday ends at nightfall on Saturday, 12 December 2026.

Why is Hanukkah on different dates each year?

It is fixed to 25 Kislev in the lunisolar Hebrew calendar, whose months follow the moon and whose leap months keep it close to the seasons. On the Gregorian calendar that lands between late November and late December.

Is the Hanukkah oil miracle in the Bible?

No. 1 Maccabees, which is not part of the Hebrew Bible, describes an eight-day rededication of the altar. The story of one cruse of oil lasting eight days first appears in the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 21b.

Sources

1. Hebcal. Chanukah 2026 / 5787. https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/chanukah-2026
2. Union for Reform Judaism. Hanukkah. ReformJudaism.org. https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/hanukkah
3. Rutgers University Off-Campus Living. Chanukah – Hanukkah (Jewish). https://ruoffcampus.rutgers.edu/node/153
4. Hebcal. Shabbat times, Encinitas, California, 4 December 2026. https://www.hebcal.com/shabbat?geo=pos&latitude=33.0369&longitude=-117.292&tzid=America/Los_Angeles&gy=2026&gm=12&gd=4
5. Mugdan, Joachim. Introduction to the Jewish Calendar. JewishGen (revised 2011). https://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/m_calint.htm
6. Genesis 1:5. Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1.5
7. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 21b (William Davidson translation). Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.21b
8. The First Book of Maccabees 4:52–59. Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/The_Book_of_Maccabees_I.4.52-59
9. Gooley JJ et al. Exposure to room light before bedtime suppresses melatonin onset and shortens melatonin duration in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96(3):E463–E472 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2010-2098
10. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Healthy Sleep Habits. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/healthy-sleep-habits
11. Sefaria. The Book of Maccabees I (About this text). https://www.sefaria.org/The_Book_of_Maccabees_I

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