About half a dozen foreign envoys, members of the Jewish community and their families, and Korean friends of Israel commemorated a religious rite that is more than 2,000 years old at the Israel Culture Center in southern Seoul, Tuesday night.

It was the fourth day of Hanukkah.

As the days have become darker and colder with the onset of winter, which Seoulites expect will be the coldest in years, scores came out for the holiday which is also called the “Festival of Lights.”

“Around this time of year when it is dark outside, light has a powerful symbolic meaning. Light in the physical meaning, as we light candles for eight days,” said Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli.

“It symbolizes light in a spiritual way, too, symbolizing hope and freedom both personally and nationally. It is during times of difficulties, these dark times, when we must not lose hope,” he said.

Hanukkah is celebrated around the world by the kindling of the candles placed in a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah or “hanukiah.” One candle is lit on each night of the holiday, adding an additional candle on each night until eight candles on the eighth and final night are lit.

The holiday ended Sunday.

“It is a great holiday for children; they have so many games and traditional sugary donuts,” Israeli said.

“We have special donuts, sufganiyah. They are popular during this holiday.”

Through the eight days of Hanukkah, the faithful go to work as usual but leave early to be home in time to light a Hanukkah candle at nightfall.

There is no religious reason for schools to be closed, although in Israel, schools close from the second day for the whole week of Hanukkah.

Many families exchange gifts each night, too, and fried foods are eaten to underscore the importance of oil during the holiday.

“(My daughters) had parties and would reenact the story but mostly they enjoyed the eight days of holiday,” Israeli said about celebrating Hanukkah with his family when his daughters were younger.

Guests at the center enjoyed all manner of fried Jewish delicacies, including latkes, or potato pancakes.

The reason for the Hanukkah lights is not for the practical purpose of illuminating an interior space as one might expect from lighting a candle, but rather for what scholars describe as “the illumination of the house without,” so that passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday’s miracle.

Hanukkah means “dedication” in Hebrew, as in the dedication of a building. It refers to the cleansing and re-dedication of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount when Judea Maccabee re-conquered it from the ancient Greek Seleucid Empire in B.C. 164.

The Temple Mount is the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, one of holiest sites in Islam. The site’s significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock known as the Foundation Stone at its heart.

Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made.

Olive oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night, every night. The story goes that there was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight-day festival was declared by Jewish sages to commemorate the perceived miracle.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)