Hanukkah 2026 in Canada: dates, history and traditions

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, Dec. 4, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, Dec. 12, an eight-night Jewish festival of lights marked in Canada with candle lighting, family meals and public menorah ceremonies.

The festival falls on the 25th of Kislev to the 2nd of Tevet in the Hebrew calendar, so its date on the civil calendar changes each year. It is not a statutory holiday anywhere in Canada.

History of Hanukkah

Hanukkah, which means dedication in Hebrew, commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BCE. Jewish forces led by the Maccabees had risen against Seleucid rule and recaptured the Temple.

According to the Talmud, a one-day supply of pure oil burned for eight days, which is why the festival lasts eight nights. Hanukkah is a post-biblical holiday and is considered a minor festival in Jewish law, though it has become one of the best known.

How Hanukkah is observed

Families light a nine-branch candelabrum called a hanukkiah. One candle is lit on the first night and another is added each night, with the helper candle, the shamash, used to light the rest. This year, because the first night falls on a Friday, the candles are lit before the Sabbath begins.

Common traditions include fried foods such as latkes and sufganiyot, a spinning top game called dreidel and small gifts of money known as gelt. Many Canadian communities hold public menorah lightings in the first days of the festival. Readers should check with local synagogues and Jewish community organizations for times and places.

Hanukkah in Canada and what is open

Census data show Canada has one of the larger Jewish populations in the world, concentrated in the Toronto and Montreal areas, with sizeable communities in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary. Because Hanukkah is not a statutory holiday, banks, government offices, Canada Post, schools and stores operate on their regular schedules. Observant employees may take time off for the first and last nights by arrangement, and some Jewish schools adjust their schedules.

The festival often overlaps with the Christmas shopping season, so planning ahead helps. See our guide to last day to ship for Christmas in Canada, our list of school winter break dates by province and our December benefit payment dates.

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Sources: My Jewish Learning; Statistics Canada census data. Candle-lighting times vary by city, so check with your local synagogue.