Chanukah is an eight day Jewish religious festival, which celebrates Jewish rebels who retook the Temple of Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd Century B.C.
The eight days emerges from the tradition which says that the rebels, miraculously, were able to light the temple's menorah with a one-day supply of oil which lasted for eight days.
Chanukah, is now celebrated through the nightly lighting of the menorah candles, prayer and food.
"Every day we light a branch of the menorah. Every day we add light, symbolising the idea that every day we try to add more good to the world." Mushka Segal a member of the local Chabad Jewish community told The Malta Independent.
Along with Rabbi Segal, she explains that the message of the holiday is about the "freedom to live your own culture and faith without fear", something she says is a foundation in Maltese society, praising how welcome her and her family have felt since moving to the island.
She also explains, that the oil is represented through the food preparation during this period, with most dishes being based and built around olive oil.
The traditions of the festival is universal: The triumphant Chanukah story is retold, Prayers are spoken, candles are lit, dreidels are spun. From there, individual family customs take over. Happily, for many Jewish families, these customs include eight nights of silver-and-blue-swaddled Hanukkah gifts.
Though Chanukah is a minor holiday in the Jewish year, its proximity to Christmas has heightened its gift-giving tradition, especially in the United States. The old European custom of giving Canukah gelt (coins or money) is still around, but the current trend of giving actual gifts really took shape in the 1950s.
Children during Chanukah are thought to give a sum of the presents they receive during this period to charitable causes, Mrs.Segal explains. This, she says, is done to teach the importance of giving back to the community.
Thursday night will also see a public menorah lit near City Gate in Valletta, and the Jewish community will hold a public celebration in the capital, to which it has invited people of all nationalities and religions.
Photo by Jonathan Borg