Hanukkah 2026: Sundown Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 12

Hanukkah dates 2026 to 2029

Hanukkah always begins on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar (Hebrew year 5787 in 2026) and lasts eight nights. The Hebrew calendar follows the moon but is kept in line with the seasons by adding a leap month seven times in every 19 years, so the festival lands somewhere between late November and late December on the civil calendar. That is why it starts on December 4 in 2026 but on Christmas Eve in 2027.

Like every day in the Jewish calendar, each day of Hanukkah begins the evening before. The "first day" of Hanukkah 2026 is Saturday, December 5, but the celebration starts with the first candle on Friday evening, December 4.

Candle lighting schedule for 2026

One candle is lit on the first night, and one more is added each night until all eight burn on the last night. A ninth candle, the shamash or helper, is used to light the others and sits apart from them on the nine-branched menorah (hanukkiah).

2026 has two Friday nights in the festival: the first and the eighth. On Friday the Hanukkah candles are lit before sundown, before the Shabbat candles, because no fire is kindled once Shabbat begins; on Saturday night they are lit after Shabbat ends. Exact times depend on your local sunset, which in early December comes between roughly 4 and 5 p.m. in most southern Canadian cities and much earlier in the North. A synagogue or Jewish community calendar for your city lists the precise candle-lighting time.

Is Hanukkah a day off in Canada?

No. Hanukkah is not a statutory or general holiday under the Canada Labour Code or the employment standards law of any province or territory, and schools stay open. In 2026 the whole festival falls on ordinary working and school weeks.

That does not mean observance is ignored. Human rights laws across Canada protect religion or creed, and employers, schools and service providers have a duty to accommodate religious observance up to the point of undue hardship. Ontario's Human Rights Commission, for example, lists creed-based holidays and observances among the situations its creed policy covers, and says undue hardship is assessed on factors such as cost and health and safety. In practice, Hanukkah involves no rules against working, so most requests are about leaving early on a Friday or swapping a shift, rather than taking whole days off. Whether a day off is paid depends on your employer's policy or collective agreement.

For the holidays that are statutory, see statutory holidays in Canada.

2027: Hanukkah meets Christmas and New Year's

In 2027 the first candle is lit on the evening of Friday, December 24, 2027, Christmas Eve, and the last day is Saturday, January 1, 2028, New Year's Day. For interfaith families and for anyone planning holiday travel, that means all eight nights fall during the school winter break and the statutory holidays of Christmas and Boxing Day. Family gatherings for Hanukkah that are hard to schedule in a normal year become easier, but flights and venues are also at their busiest.

In 2028 Hanukkah returns to mid-December (December 12 to 20), and in 2029 it begins on December 1, one of its earliest possible starts.

What Hanukkah commemorates

Hanukkah means "dedication". It marks the victory of the Maccabees, a Jewish group that revolted against the Syrian Greek army, and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem that followed. Tradition holds that only one small vial of pure oil was found for the Temple's menorah, enough for one day, yet it burned for eight. The eight nights of candles recall that story, which is why Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights.

Compared with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or Passover, Hanukkah is a minor festival in religious terms: it comes from a historical event rather than from the Torah, and ordinary activities including work are allowed. Its visibility in North America has grown partly because it falls close to Christmas.

How it is celebrated in Canada

• Lighting the menorah each evening with blessings, often placed where it can be seen from the street to share the light.
• Food fried in oil to recall the oil in the Temple: latkes (potato pancakes), jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) and, in Sephardic families, bimuelos.
• Dreidel, a spinning-top game, and gelt (from the Yiddish word for money), often chocolate coins.
• Gifts and parties, especially for children, in many families one small gift a night.
• Public menorah lightings organized by synagogues and Jewish community groups in many Canadian cities, in parks, malls and civic squares. Dates and locations are announced locally in late November.

Practical tips

• Candle safety: never leave a lit menorah unattended, keep it away from curtains and on a non-flammable surface. Hanukkah candles are meant to burn for at least half an hour after dark.
• Greetings: "Happy Hanukkah" or "Chag sameach" (happy holiday) are both fine. The many English spellings, Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah, are all transliterations of the same Hebrew word.
• Planning at work or school: if you need to leave early on Friday, December 4 or 11, 2026, ask in advance; sundown in early December comes before the end of a typical school or office day in most of Canada.