Starting Friday, Nov. 29 and lasting until Friday, Dec. 6, is the celebration of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, known as the “Festival of Lights,” is the celebration of the Jewish people long ago. After a strong ruler tried to force the Jews out of their temple and town, Maccabee, a spiritual leader, lead the group in a fight to regain their temple, said Jennifer Diaz, vice president of Hillel, an ISU Jewish student organization.

“The temple needed to be purified by lit candles for eight days, but there wasn’t enough oil,” she said. “But then it did last for eight days.”

The oil continuing to burn and the victory of defeating the ruler are the two significant aspects of this holiday, Diaz said.

A special symbol of Hanukkah is the menorah. It contains eight candles for the eight days the oil miraculously kept lighting, and an extra candle, called a shamash, which is used to light all of the other candles. Each progressive day, one more candle is lit, left to right.

A prayer is usually said while the candles are lit and a different reading from the Torah is read each day.

“In my family, the tradition was that [my brothers and I] always wanted to light the candles, but we could only do it if we could tell the story of Hanukkah,” she said. “This way we know it is not just about presents.”

This year the Ames Jewish Congregation is planing a party on Union Drive to teach others of the holiday.

“It is a special party to explain Hanukkah with traditional foods and games,” she said. “We have it to inform others and make the campus aware of Hanukkah.”

Some traditional foods are potato lapkes, matzoh and Noodle Kugel. Potato lapkes are potato pancakes that can be topped with applesauce or sour cream.

“The lapkes are symbolic because they are fried in oil,” Diaz said.

Matzoh is a Jewish chicken soup.

“This soup is supposed to ‘cure anything’,” she said. “The matzoh balls are the best part.”

Noodle Kugel is a casserole of noodles, cream cheese, cottage cheese, raisins and cinnamon.

“It’s a sweet noodle casserole and it is my favorite,” Diaz said.