Hanukkah, or Festival of Lights, commemorates the purifying rites of the Temple of Jerusalem after the banishing of the Seleucid domination in the year 165 before Christ.

This festivity, instituted by the rabbis who created the Talmud, begins on the 25 th of Kislev (a month that usually falls at the end of December) and lasts for eight days. Every night a new light has to be lit in the Hanukiah (also known as Menorah ) or ritual lamp, which includes eight oil lamps plus a ninth one that acts as continuous fire in service, called Shamash.

Every Jewish family used to have a Hanukiah , which had to be place preferably in a window for all the people to see during the celebrations of Hanukkah.

The discovery of several fragments of Hanukiot in the archaeological excavation in the castle of Lorca proves that the celebration of the Festival of Lights was carried out by the Jewish inhabitants of the city during the 15 th century.