Why is Hanukkah celebrated on different dates?

Answer 1

Because Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that follows the Hebrew calendar, which is lunisolar.

Hanukkah always starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. The Hebrew calendar does not line up with the western calendar because it has a completely different leap year system that can shift holidays each year by to 11-28 days.

Here are the coinciding secular dates for the upcoming years. The candle lightings begin on the evening BEFORE the first date:

2011: December 20-28

2012: December 8-16

2013: November 27-December 5

2014: December 16-24

2015: December 6-14

Answer 2

Hanukkah always starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. The Hebrew calendar does not line up with the western calendar because it is lunisolar (not solar), and has a completely different leap year system that can shift holidays each year by to 11-28 days.

For example, here are the coinciding secular dates for several years:

2011: December 20-28

2012: December 8-16

2013: November 27-December 5

2014: December 16-24

2015: December 6-14

Answer 3

Hannukah begins on the same day each year; on the 25th of Kislev, on the Jewish, lunisolar calendar.

However, this rarely corresponds with the same day in the Julian calendar each year. In the Julian calendar, the year is 365 days, with one extra day on leap year because the actual solar year is 365.25 days long. In the Hebrew and Islamic calendars, the months are based on a LUNAR cycle; the first day of the month is the day after the New Moon.

This lunar cycle doesn't match up with the solar cycle; a "month" is 29.5 days (in practice, alternating months of 29 and 30 days) for a 12-month "year" that would be only 354 days long.

So in the Hebrew calendar, we add "leap MONTHS" - "Adar II" - to keep the monthly calendar roughly synchronized with the solar calendar, so that Passover always comes in the spring and Rosh Hashanah in the fall.

The Islamic calendar, on the other hand, isn't concerned with keeping the lunar calendar matched up with the solar calendar, so Ramadan and other Islamic holidays float through the Julian calendar, 11 days earlier each year.

Answer 4

Well, in a way, that's not true. Jewish holidays are figured on the basis of a Lunar calendar. Most modern calendars are solar based (ours beginning 1/1 and ending 12/31 with 12 months is the "Gregorian" calendar. So Jewish holidays fall on the same day according to the Lunar calendar, but that winds up not being the same day for our Gregorian calendar. So it depends on your point of view!!

Answer 5

Because the date of the celebration is calculated using a lunar calendar not the solar Gregorian one in general use.

Clarification:

Jews have a different calendar that is a lunar/solar system. This is the calendar we use to determine when our holidays are.

Answer 6

Passover isn't worshiped, it is celebrated or observed by Jews. It is a 7 day holiday inside Israel and an 8 day holiday outside of Israel. Aside from the extra day outside of Israel, it is celebrated on the same dates worldwide.

Answer 7

Hanukkah always starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. The Hebrew calendar does not line up with the western calendar because it has a completely different leap year system that can shift holidays each year by to 11-28 days.

Here are the coinciding secular dates for the upcoming years. The candle lightings begin on the evening BEFORE the first date:

2011: December 20-28

2012: December 8-16

2013: November 27-December 5

2014: December 16-24

2015: December 6-14

Answer 8

The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar. The New Year is always on the same date in that calendar - it is just our solar calendar where the date "changes."

Answer 9

Our Jewish calendar is the one on which the times of Torah-observances (such as the festivals) are based.