with a special elevator to light the candles of what organizers called "the largest Menorah in Europe."
The emotionally charged ceremony to observe the Hanukkah holiday was held in front of the same Parliament building where Hungary introduced one of Europe’s first anti-Semitic laws from the late 1930’s.
Soon after, the country became a close ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two, when an estimated 600-thousand Hungarian Jews were massacred.
Attacks against Jews even continued after the war and under Communism, when observing Hanukkah in public would have been unthinkable.
FORMER COMMUNISTS
Officials, including former Communists as well as Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, attended the eight day, often rain soaked, Hanukkah celebration.
News Service that Hanukkah sends an important message to post-Communist Hungary. "This day is not only the light celebration. It is a celebration of liberty also," she said.
Hanukkah, the Hebrew word for "renewal," was first observed in 164 B.C. when Jews got back their Temple in Jerusalem, after a revolt against their enemies.
CANDLES AND OIL
They discovered one bottle of olive oil to light the candles in the Temple for one day. However the oil is said to have lasted for eight days, an event that became known as "the miracle of Hanukkah." Salamon Berkowitz, the founder of the Mechon Simon Foundation which organized the Budapest ceremony, believes that Hanukkah is more than a religious holiday.
The 55-year old, whose brother and sister died in Nazi concentration camps, said the celebration shows that Hungary’s Jewish community will overcome difficulties within the European Union and beyond.
SURVIVAL AND DESPERATION
"Hanukkah basically stands not as a religious celebration as such. It is more a sign of survival and desperation and commitment to maintain ones culture, more than ones religion," he said. "That is a very important part in an EU structure. I think it is a message for unity but at the same time for self identity."
But anti-Semitism has not disappeared in Hungary. Earlier this week hundreds of skinheads were seen interrupting a Hanukkah ceremony in Budapest, while shouting slogans such as "Hungary belongs to us" and showing fascist symbols.
However the recently elected Socialist-led Government has vowed to introduce new legislation to punish denials of the Holocaust and hatred speech in an effort to overcome Hungary’s troubled legacy. And to welcome a new era of Hanukkah celebrations.
This article is good. but it didn’t talk about other tips that we can do on celebrating it.