If you are talking about a Chanukah menorah, also called a Chanukiah, it can be displayed whenever you like. However, you only begin lighting it on the first evening of Hanukkah.
Usually, though, Jewish people take out their Chanukiah the day before Chanukah starts, and put it away immediately afterward.
Hanukkah begins on2014: December 16
2015: December 6
2016: December 24
2017: December 12
Eight evenings, beginning on the 25th of Kislev. The dates are slightly different each year in the Gregorian (Western) calendar.
They light candles.
Hanukkah is one holiday in which you would light candles.
You light 9 candles on Hanukkah, and there is no tradition of asking why, unless there are guests in the home who don't know about Hanukkah.
The Hanukkah-menorah holds eight candles. Each night, there is one other candle to the side, which is used to light the others. See also:More about Hanukkah
The Hanukkah candles don't have names, except for referring to them generically, as neirot Hanukkah (candles of Hanukkah). The one candle which does have a name is the extra one, used to light the others, which is called the shamash (helper).See also:More about Hanukkah
Yes, you light candles on ALL 8 nights of Hanukkah.
You light 2 on the first night. Then each night, you add another candle, ending with 9 on the eighth night.
On Hanukkah there is no tradition concerning the color of the candles. Any color is okay.
8
We light candles on the following occasions: Each night of Hanukkah Shortly before the onset of the Sabbath Shortly before each of the festivals listed in Leviticus ch.23 Yahrtzeit memorial candles
The Hanukkah menorah traditionally has 9 candles. One of them, the shamash (caretaker) is there to be used to light the others and to provide light. It is usually set off from the others, for example, by being elevated or set out of line. The other 8 candles signify the 8 days of Hanukkah. So, on the first day, you light one candle (from the shamash you already lit). The second day, you light two, and so on, so that the amount of light increases from day to day. The menorah is traditionally put in a window so that the light proclaims the miracle to the world.
It is called the shamash (servant). See also:More about Hanukkah