The clock runs out when the first candle's date begins, not at sundown. Hanukkah starts after sunset that evening, and the hour of sunset depends on where you are.
How many days until Hanukkah: 2026 to 2030
Hanukkah begins at sundown on the evening before 25 Kislev on the Hebrew calendar. It is always a day between November 27 and December 26, so the date changes every year.
Year
Date
Days away
2026
40 days
2027
425 days
2028
779 days
2029
1,133 days
2030
1,517 days
When is Hanukkah on the Hebrew calendar?
Hanukkah begins on 25 Kislev, the date 1 Maccabees gives for the rededication of the Temple altar. The Library of Congress notes that each Jewish date starts at sundown the night before. So the first candle is lit on the evening of the Gregorian date that matches 24 Kislev, as 25 Kislev begins.
The eighth and last candle is lit seven days after the first, on the same weekday, and the eighth day of the festival follows it. When the first candle falls on a Friday, so does the eighth. That happens in 2026, with candles on December 4 and December 11, and again in 2027.
Why the date moves between late November and late December
The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar. Its months follow the moon and run 29 or 30 days. Twelve of them make a year of 353 to 355 days, about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year. To stay in step with the seasons, 7 years out of every 19 add a 30-day month, Adar I, ahead of the usual Adar. Those leap years run 383 to 385 days.
Measured on the Gregorian calendar, Hanukkah comes 10 to 13 days earlier after a 12-month Hebrew year and 17 to 20 days later after a 13-month one.
First candle
Shift from the year before
Sunday, December 18, 2022
20 days later (13 months, with Adar I)
Thursday, December 7, 2023
11 days earlier (12 months)
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
18 days later (13 months, with Adar I)
Sunday, December 14, 2025
11 days earlier (12 months)
From 2001 to 2100 the first candle falls between November 27 and December 26. The earliest date came in 2013 and returns in 2032; the latest, December 26, is next reached in 2043.
Lighting the menorah, night by night
The Shulchan Arukh, a 16th-century code of Jewish law, sets the count. One light burns on the first night, and one more is added each night until all eight burn. A ninth candle, the shamash, lights the others and usually stands higher than the rest.
Candles go into the menorah from right to left, and each night the newest one, on the far left, is lit first. The code sets lighting for the end of sunset. It also records a view that someone busy may light from late afternoon, if the fuel lasts until people stop passing in the street. On a Friday, the Hanukkah candles come first and the Shabbat candles second, both before Shabbat begins at sundown.
Where the eight days come from
In 1 Maccabees, Judas and his brothers offer sacrifice on a new altar on 25 Kislev, the anniversary of the desecration. They then decree that the dedication be kept “for eight days” every year from that date. A footnote in the U.S. Catholic bishops’ New American Bible converts the day to December 14, 164 B.C.
The Library of Congress describes Hanukkah as marking that rededication, after forces of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV had desecrated the Temple. The story of one day’s supply of oil burning for eight days comes from the Talmud, a later rabbinic text. In the United States, the Library adds, Hanukkah became widely observed only in the late 19th century.
Hanukkah with Thanksgiving and Christmas
The first candle can land on any of 30 dates, so it sometimes meets another holiday.
Year
First candle
Overlap
2013
Wednesday, November 27
Thanksgiving was the first full day
2024
Wednesday, December 25
Christmas Day; the eighth candle came on January 1, 2025
2027
Friday, December 24
Christmas Eve; the eighth candle falls on New Year’s Eve
2070
Thursday, November 27
Thanksgiving Day itself
In years like 2024 and 2027, this clock and the Christmas Day countdown run out a day apart or less.
Frequently asked questions
How many candles do you need for all eight nights?
44 in all. The eight nights take 1 through 8 candles, which adds up to 36, plus a shamash each night.
Is Hanukkah a federal holiday?
No. It is not among the holidays listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103, so the eight days are ordinary working days for federal offices unless one coincides with Christmas or New Year's Day.