Why Does Hanukkah Begin on a Different Day Every Year?
Although Hanukkah occurs on a different day every year in the Gregorian calendar (also known as the Western calendar), it occurs on the same day every year in the Jewish calendar. Hanukkah ALWAYS begins on the 25th day of Kislev – the ninth month of the Jewish calendar. Since the Jewish calendar is lunar based, it has a different number of days than the Western calendar, which is based on a solar year of 365 days. There are about 29.5 days in each lunar month, so there is roughly an 11 day difference between 12 lunar months and one solar year. The length of the Jewish calendar year varies in a repeating 19-year cycle of 235 lunar months, with a month added according to defined rules every two or three years. Some years, Hanukkah occurs in late November, and some years it falls closer to Christmas at the end of December.
