Celia Horwitz gathers around the menorah with her family, lighting the first two candles on the first night of Hanukkah. For eight days her family will celebrate the Jewish holiday, also known as the festival of light.

Hanukkah received its origin when a Jewish temple was destroyed, leaving the Hebrews with only enough oil to light a candle, meant to represent God, for a single day. A long journey to another town was the only way to get more oil, but through a miracle, the oil of the candle lasted the eight days it needed to while several Hebrews traveled to retrieve more.

“Whenever Hanukkah starts my mom will set out the menorah and we will sing a song together and light the first candle,” Celia said.

The first night, the shamash, or lead candle, is lit along with one other candle. Each night after, another candle is lit, until all nine candles glow on the eighth night.

Like many other holidays, Hanukkah has traditional food that is eaten with it.

“My mom makes latkes, which are potato pancakes,” Celia said. “You put them with applesauce, and they are so good.”

While Celia loves the latkes, her favorite part of the holiday is the eight gifts she receives, one on each night of the holiday.

“Many children enjoy the gifts,” Horwitz’s mother Joan Horwitz said. “I have very fond memories of singing around the candles with my family when I was just a girl.”

Horwitz remembers “mumbling the blessing” when she was about four before she had learned it at Hebrew school.

“I grew up going to Hebrew school three days a week. In Michigan, 30 percent of the population was Jewish, so there was a service every single day,” Horwitz said. “Celia has never had Hebrew school.”

Horwitz has still tried her hardest to present her children with the information about their faith.

“I know that if something is forced on me, I don’t really want to do it. So I make sure that Celia knows what she needs to. She hasn’t shown a strong interest, and I don’t want to force her into it.”

Living in an area with a very small Jewish population makes attending services more difficult.

“When we lived in Ohio, the closest service was an hour away. It was like going to the lake for the weekend, without the lake.”

Horwitz feels very proud of Celia’s knowledge despite these setbacks.

“A few years ago, we were going to sing the blessing and I asked Celia if she knew it, and she knew every word and I was very impressed,” she said.

This year Hanukkah began on Sunday, Dec. 6 and will end Monday the 14th.

“This year it falls pretty close to Christmas,” Celia said. “Last year it was around Thanksgiving, so it was more like Thanksgiving-akkah.”