Once they booted the Seleucid army back to Syria, The Chanukah holiday started. Well, it wasn’t really a celebration of Chanukah. It was a celebration of Sukkot. When the Maccabees finally retook the Temple in the month of Kislev, they decided to celebrate Sukkot three months late The war had stopped the Judeans from observing Sukkot. Therefore, the Maccabees rededicated the Temple and immediately set out to observe the skipped festival, which was an excuse to get the population to re-dedicate themselves to their faith.
During Biblical times, on Sukkot and all the God-directed festivals, Judeans from all over the land would come to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices at the Temple. The festival’s late celebration allowed the Jews who couldn’t go to the holy Temple for three and a half years an opportunity to rededicate themselves to the Jewish faith.
The Temple’s rededication was also celebrated, now called Hanukkah. It was initially named The Festival of Lights (which can only be spelled one way in English), but that name was made for a different reason than one may think.
[I can’t remember which way to spell it from one year to the next … — Ed]
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