Why is Hanukkah called the Festival of Lights?

Hanukkah is called the Festival of Lights primarily due to the miraculous account recorded in the Babylonian Talmud. According to this tradition, when the Maccabees reclaimed and rededicated the Temple of Jerusalem in 164 BCE, they found only a single jar of consecrated oil—enough to burn for only one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days until more could be obtained, establishing the duration of the festival.123

The historian Flavius Josephus was the first to use the term "Festival of Lights," though he interpreted the lights as a metaphor for religious freedom rather than a direct reference to the physical candles. In modern Judaism, the name is associated with the custom of lighting a menorah (specifically a nine-branched hanukkiyah) to publicize this miracle, with one additional candle lit each night of the eight-day celebration.214