Religious holiday
How Many Days Until Hanukkah 2026?
Today: · Eastern Time (America/New_York)
Calendar days until Hanukkah
42 days until Hanukkah
Hanukkah is on Saturday, December 5, 2026.
Live countdown to midnight on December 5, 2026
41 days, 18 hours, 33 minutes, 27 seconds remaining
Eastern Time (America/New_York). Countdown days are 24 hours; the calendar-day count above uses local dates.
- Calendar days (signed)
- 42
- Full weeks + days
- 6 weeks + 0 days
- Calendar months + days
- 1 month + 11 days
- Years, months, days
- 0 years, 1 month, 11 days
- Weekdays counted
- 30
- Weekend days counted
- 12
- U.S. business days
- 28
- Observed holiday dates skipped
- 2
What is Hanukkah?
Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is an eight-night Jewish holiday that begins on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev, usually in December. The date shown is the first full day; the first candle is lit the evening before.
History of Hanukkah
It commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem around 164 BCE, after the Maccabees led a revolt against the Seleucid Empire. According to the Talmud, a single day's supply of oil kept the Temple menorah lit for eight days.
Hanukkah today
Families light the menorah, or hanukkiah, adding one candle each night, eat foods fried in oil such as latkes and sufganiyot, play dreidel and give gifts or chocolate coins called gelt.
Date details
- Category
- Religious holiday
- How the date is set
- Set by a yearly rule
- Country / region
- General calendar event
- Actual event date
First day of the eight-day festival (25 Kislev). The first candle is lit at sundown the evening before.
Calculated from the fixed Hebrew calendar; dates match the Hebcal holiday calendar. Source: Hebcal Jewish calendar
Event date facts
- Weekday
- Saturday
- ISO week / year
- 49 / 2026
- Day of year
- 339
- Quarter
- 4
- Days left in year
- 26
- Leap year
- No
December 2026
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target | ||||||
Event dates by year
| Rule year | Actual date | Observed federal closure | Certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Monday, December 15, 2025 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2026 | Saturday, December 5, 2026 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2027 | Saturday, December 25, 2027 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2028 | Wednesday, December 13, 2028 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2029 | Sunday, December 2, 2029 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
Quick answers
- What day of the week is December 5, 2026?
- December 5, 2026 is a Saturday.
- Is Hanukkah a federal holiday?
- No. Hanukkah is not a U.S. federal holiday, so federal offices and most businesses stay open.
- What week of the year is December 5, 2026?
- December 5, 2026 is in ISO week 49 of 2026 and is day 339 of the year.
How the Hanukkah date is calculated
- Hanukkah is on 25 Kislev in the Hebrew calendar. That calendar follows the moon but adds a leap month seven times every 19 years, so the holiday stays in the same season while its Gregorian date moves by up to a few weeks.
- 25 Kislev 5787 is Saturday, December 5, 2026. Jewish days begin at sundown, so Hanukkah starts on the evening of Friday, December 4, 2026.
- The countdown counts calendar days from today to December 5, 2026. The start date is excluded and the end date is included. Dates use Eastern Time (America/New_York).
- The live countdown runs to midnight at the start of December 5, 2026 in Eastern Time (America/New_York). A countdown day is 24 hours, so a daylight-saving change can make it differ from the calendar-day count by an hour.
- Calculated at 6:26 AM on October 24, 2026.
- U.S. business days exclude Saturday, Sunday and observed nationwide federal closures; individual employer and state schedules are not included.