festival of lights

from The Century Dictionary.

• See Hanukah.
• Rosh hodesh, the first (day) of the Jewish lunar month (Num. x. 10).
• Pesah, the Passover, also called Chan ha-mazoth, the Feast of Unleavened Bread (see matsoth).
• Shabuoth, or Chaff ha-Shabuoth, the Feast of Weeks, also called Yom ha-bikurim, or Day of the First-fruit (Num. xxviii. 26).
• Sukkoth, meaning ‘booths,’ or ‘tabernacles,’ also called Chaff ha-‘Asiph (Ex. xxiii. 15, 16), the Feast of Ingathering (see Feast of Tabernacles).
• Yom Teruah (Num. xxix. 1), the ‘day of blowing the trumpet,’ now known as Rosh ha-shanah or first of the Jewish year, when the shofar (ram's horn) is used.
• Yom ha-kippurim, the Day of Atonement, which is not properly a day of feasting, but the most solemn fast-day in the year. The post-Biblical Jewish authorities have added an extra day to the principal festivals; thus the Feast of the Passover has now eight instead of seven days; the Feast of Weeks has two instead of one; the Feast of Tabernacles has (including Shemini ‘Atsereth and Simhath Torah) nine instead of eight; and Rosh ha-shanah has two instead of one. There are several minor festivals and holidays in the Jewish calendar, but these, with the exception of Hanukah (which see), as well as the above-named additional days, are disregarded by many reformed congregations.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (Judaism) an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BC