When did the Jews first start celebrating Hanukkah? ?
A slightly complicated question. It was started very shortly after the war that triggered the celebration, the Maccabeen War. In Kislev 25th (Dec), control was regained of the Temple. In Tishri 15th (Oct) the Jewish folks hadn’t been able to celebrate Succot. This was a very important holiday, so a group in Jerusalem decided to celebrate Succot in December which is why this holiday is also a week long. Succot in those days was very important. It was a harvest holiday & the one where they asked for rain the next year (in Israel that matters). There was disagreement over whether this holiday should be used. Eventually someone declared something that then encouraged -everyone- to do it. I don’t remember those details. It took a short while for it to become consistently celebrated. The dreyel was a top bidding game used in the caves & outcoves to fool Roman soldiers if they came by while Jewish folks were studying because it was punishable by death. So that was done during the inquisition,
