Aramaic word meaning "festivity," originally used to designate a marriage party. Among Jews in Muslim lands, the hillula generally commemorates the death of a sage, whose soul is regarded as having been reunited with its Creator. The classic instance of the hiIIula is that marking the traditional anniversary of the death of Simeon Bar Yoḥai on Lag Ba-Omer, which is celebrated at his putative burial place and that of his son Eleazar in Meron, in northern Israel. Crowds as large as 100,000 people attend the festivities and large bonfires are lit and burn throughout the night. Another hillula is that of Meir Ba'Al Ha-Nes, on 14 Iyyar (Second Passover) in Tiberias. Since the death of R. Israel Abuḥatzera, known as the Baba Sali, in 1983, his grave in Netivot has become the venue for an annual hillula on 3 Shevat.
Outside Israel, one of the largest hillulot is the Lag ba-Omer celebration in the courtyard of the al-Ghariba synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia.
