today at sundown we light the first candle. it will go on for 8 days. totalling 44 candles per year, including the Shamas of course. the Shamas is the candle which we use to light the rest of the candles.
when we light the candles we say 2 or 3 prayers and most also sing a short poem- believed to be written in the 12th or 13th century. a poem about war and god.
we celebrate the success (or at least partial success) of the maccabean revolt and the new jewish kingdom that lasted until the romans came. but thats a story for another day.
