Hanukkah Quiz: 50 Trivia Questions with Answers for Kids, Class and Parties

When is Hanukkah 2026?

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, 2026 and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12, 2026. The first candle is lit on the evening of December 4, before the Shabbat candles, and one more candle is added each night for eight nights. Hanukkah starts on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which is why its date on the regular calendar moves from year to year.

Easy Hanukkah questions for kids

• What is the special candleholder lit on Hanukkah called? Answer: A menorah, also called a chanukiah (or hanukkiah).
• What is the name of the four-sided spinning top played with on Hanukkah? Answer: A dreidel.
• What are latkes usually made from? Answer: Potatoes.
• What are the chocolate coins given on Hanukkah called? Answer: Gelt.
• Hanukkah is often called the Festival of what? Answer: Lights.
• In the song "I Have a Little Dreidel", what is the dreidel made out of? Answer: Clay.

Hanukkah questions for elementary school

• What changes about the candles each night of Hanukkah? Answer: One more candle is lit each night, until all eight burn on the last night.
• How many branches does a Hanukkah menorah have? Answer: Nine - eight for the nights and one for the helper candle, the shamash.
• Which Jewish hero led the Maccabees in battle? Answer: Judah Maccabee.
• In which city was the Temple that the Maccabees rededicated? Answer: Jerusalem.
• Why do people eat foods fried in oil on Hanukkah? Answer: To remember the story of the small jar of oil that lasted eight days.

Hanukkah customs and dreidel rules

• In the dreidel game, what happens when the dreidel lands on nun? Answer: Nothing - the next player spins.
• What happens when it lands on hei? Answer: The player takes half of the pot.
• What happens when it lands on shin? Answer: The player puts one piece into the pot.
• Outside Israel, what do the four letters nun, gimel, hei and shin stand for? Answer: "Nes gadol haya sham" - "A great miracle happened there".
• In the most common custom, candles are placed in the menorah from right to left. Which candle is lit first each night? Answer: The newest one, on the far left, and then the lighting moves to the right.
• On the Friday of Hanukkah, which are lit first: the Hanukkah candles or the Shabbat candles? Answer: The Hanukkah candles, because no fire is lit once Shabbat begins.

Hanukkah history: the Maccabees

The revolt of the Maccabees is documented in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The miracle of the oil is the story Jewish tradition tells about the rededication of the Temple, and it is presented here as tradition.

• Which king's decrees against Jewish practice sparked the Maccabean revolt? Answer: Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
• Which empire did the Maccabees revolt against? Answer: The Seleucid Empire.
• Which priest started the revolt together with his five sons? Answer: Mattathias.
• What is the nickname "Maccabee" usually explained to mean? Answer: "The hammer".
• In which century did the Maccabean revolt take place? Answer: The 2nd century BCE - it began around 167 BCE and the Temple was rededicated around 164 BCE.
• Which two ancient books tell the history of the revolt? Answer: 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees.
• Where does the story of the oil that lasted eight days first appear? Answer: In the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat - the books of Maccabees do not mention it.

Hanukkah around the world

• What is the Hebrew word for a dreidel? Answer: Sevivon.
• In Israel, the dreidel's fourth letter is pe instead of shin. What does the Israeli dreidel say? Answer: "Nes gadol haya po" - "A great miracle happened here".
• What does the Yiddish word "gelt" mean? Answer: Money.
• Which fried doughnut is eaten by Moroccan Jews on Hanukkah? Answer: Sfenj.
• Which festival honoring women do Jewish communities of North Africa, such as Tunisia, celebrate on the new month of Tevet during Hanukkah? Answer: Chag HaBanot, the Festival of the Daughters.
• Which heroine's story is behind the custom of eating cheese and other dairy foods on Hanukkah? Answer: Judith, who fed salty cheese to an enemy general.

Hard Hanukkah questions for adults

• Counting the shamash every night, how many candles are lit over all eight nights of Hanukkah? Answer: 44 (36 Hanukkah candles plus 8 lightings of the shamash).
• Which prayer, meaning "For the Miracles", is added to the Amidah and to the Grace after Meals on Hanukkah? Answer: Al HaNissim.
• On how many days of Hanukkah is the full Hallel recited? Answer: All eight.
• Which new month always begins during Hanukkah? Answer: Tevet (Rosh Chodesh Tevet).
• Is the story of Hanukkah in the Hebrew Bible? Answer: No. The books of Maccabees are not part of the Hebrew Bible, though they are in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles.
• The school of Shammai taught to light eight candles on the first night and one fewer each night. Whose school's custom of adding a candle each night is followed today? Answer: The school of Hillel.
• Which brother of Judah Maccabee died when an elephant he stabbed fell on him in battle? Answer: Eleazar.

Fun Hanukkah trivia

• Which comedian first performed "The Chanukah Song" on Saturday Night Live in 1994? Answer: Adam Sandler.
• In 2013, Thanksgiving fell on the first day of Hanukkah. What nickname did the overlap get? Answer: Thanksgivukkah.
• Near which famous building is the National Menorah lit each year in Washington, D.C.? Answer: The White House.

Hanukkah trivia multiple choice (10 questions)

Each question has four answers, the same format as a Glowit game, so you can paste them straight into the editor.

• How many nights does Hanukkah last? A) 6 B) 7 C) 8 D) 10. Answer: C) 8.
• What does the word Hanukkah mean? A) Light B) Dedication C) Victory D) Oil. Answer: B) Dedication.
• Which king ruled the Seleucid Empire at the time of the Maccabean revolt? A) Alexander the Great B) Nebuchadnezzar C) Antiochus IV Epiphanes D) Herod the Great. Answer: C) Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
• Which dreidel letter means you take the whole pot? A) Nun B) Gimel C) Hei D) Shin. Answer: B) Gimel.
• What are sufganiyot? A) Potato pancakes B) Chocolate coins C) Jelly doughnuts D) Honey cakes. Answer: C) Jelly doughnuts.
• In which Hebrew month does Hanukkah begin? A) Nisan B) Tishrei C) Kislev D) Adar. Answer: C) Kislev.
• Not counting the shamash, how many candles are lit over all eight nights? A) 8 B) 36 C) 44 D) 64. Answer: B) 36.
• What is the helper candle used to light the others called? A) Shamash B) Sevivon C) Gelt D) Hallel. Answer: A) Shamash.
• In which town did Mattathias begin the revolt? A) Jerusalem B) Modiin C) Bethlehem D) Jericho. Answer: B) Modiin.
• On a dreidel from Israel, which letter takes the place of shin? A) Pe B) Tav C) Mem D) Resh. Answer: A) Pe.

Hanukkah, Chanukah or Hanukah?

They are all the same holiday. The name is a Hebrew word, and English has no single agreed way to write it in Latin letters, so you will see Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah and Chanukkah. The "ch" spelling stands for a throaty sound, like the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch", which is why an "h" alone is also used. Hanukkah is the most common spelling in the United States.

How to run this Hanukkah quiz

• Sign in with Google, open the Glowit editor and add the questions you want - or type the topic into the AI quiz generator and edit the draft it gives you.
• Show the game on a shared screen: a TV, a projector, a smart board, or a screen-share on a video call.
• Players open glowit.io on a phone, type the 5-digit room code and pick a nickname - no app and no account. Up to 200 players can join one game.
• Family party: play one round between candle lighting and the latkes, with the kids round first so the youngest players score early.
• Classroom: in a Jewish day school or Hebrew school, play the history and customs rounds as a review; in a public school winter holidays unit, the kids, elementary and around-the-world rounds introduce the holiday.
• Office party: for an inclusive December party, mix Hanukkah questions with Christmas questions so everyone has rounds they know.
• Zoom or any video call: share the game screen, and every guest answers on their own phone wherever they are.
• Start easy and keep the hard round for the end, so the leaderboard stays close until the final podium.

Prefer a ready-made game?

There is a ready-made Hanukkah Trivia game in the Glowit library: 15 multiple-choice questions from this page. Open it, press Play now and start a live game, or copy it and edit the questions first. Want a different round, such as Hanukkah trivia for 3rd grade? Type the topic into the AI quiz generator and get up to 25 editable multiple-choice questions in seconds.