Hanukkah - 2024

This stamp marks the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, one of the more widely embraced celebrations in the Jewish calendar.

It is cancelled in Westmount, Quebec, home of the Aron Museum, where the menorah on the stamp is housed.

Good to know

• The Hanukkah stamp was issued on November 14, 2024, ahead of Hanukkah, which this year begins at nightfall on December 25.
• This is Canada Post’s seventh Hanukkah stamp; the others were issued in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

About the Hanukkah stamp issue

• In celebration of Canada’s cultural diversity, this stamp marks the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, one of the more widely embraced celebrations in the Jewish calendar.
• Also called the Festival of Lights, it commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (Judaism’s holiest site) after the Jewish people reclaimed it around 165 BCE.
• This year, Hanukkah begins at nightfall on December 25 and ends at nightfall on January 2, 2025.
• The kindling of a hanukkiyah, or menorah in commemoration of the miracle of light and faith is central to the celebration of Hanukkah.
• The stamp features a photograph of a peacock-themed hanukkiyah crafted in Poland during the 19th century and believed to have been rescued from a burning synagogue in Germany in 1938.
• The artifact resides in the Aron Museum in Westmount, Quebec.

About Hanukkah

• Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (Judaism’s holiest site) after the Jewish people reclaimed it around 165 BCE.
• According to Jewish tradition, the Temple’s menorah was to burn continuously; however, there was enough oil to last only one day. Miraculously, it lasted the eight days it took to harvest, press and transport a fresh supply of oil.
• This miracle of light and faith is commemorated each year through the kindling of a hanukkiyah, or menorah – a candelabrum bearing a row of eight candle or oil holders and a central “helper” candle, called a shamash, that is used to light the others.
• Prayers, traditional songs and religious readings are often part of the lighting ceremony. Gift giving has also become a common practice – the traditional gift being small amounts of Hanukkah gelt in the form of either real money or chocolate coins.
• Fried foods – such as latkes and jelly doughnuts – are strongly associated with Hanukkah, while olives, olive branches and cruses of oil are sometimes used to symbolize the miracle of the oil at the heart of the story behind the festival.
• The dreidel – a spinning top that children play with during the holiday – also has a special connection. The Hebrew letters on the four sides of the dreidel stand for the phrase Nes gadol haya sham, which means, “A great miracle happened there.”

About the peacock menorah

Believed to have been rescued from a burning synagogue in Germany in November 1938 – when antisemitic violence in Nazi-occupied territories erupted in the horror of Kristallnacht – the silver-plated menorah on this year’s Hanukkah stamp is a symbol of faith and resilience.

This spectacular hanukkiyah is one of many cultural and religious items that were recovered in the aftermath of the Second World War and redistributed to Israel and to Jewish communities around the world. Donated to the Aron Museum at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montréal, it features an ornate peacock on a curtained stage – its magnificent plumage illuminated with the lighting of each of its eight candles. Although the peacock was a popular decorative motif when this piece was crafted in Poland in the 19th century, its appearance on a menorah is unusual. Nevertheless, as a symbol of beauty, it perfectly reflects the Jewish value of performing mitzvot – acts of empathy and kindness – in a beautiful way and helps shine a light on the miracle at the heart of the Jewish holiday.

About the design

• The cover features a close-up of the feathers of the peacock on the silver-plated menorah that appears on the stamp.
• The back shows a photograph of a peacock feather and features a short text on the peacock menorah pictured on the stamp.
• The stamp was cancelled on November 14, 2024, ahead of Hanukkah, which this year begins at nightfall on December 25.
• It was cancelled in Westmount, Quebec, where the menorah on the stamp resides.
• The cancel image is an illustration of a hand holding a lighted shamash or helper candle.