Hanukkah is the eight-day Festival of Lights, commemorating the victory of Judah Maccabee's insurgents over the Syrian army in 165 BC. After the Temple in Jerusalem had been cleansed of pagan worship and the altar had been rededicated, only one vessel containing the ritual oil used to light the tabernacle was found. According to tradition, this ritual oil was sufficient, by a miracle, for eight days, until a new batch was produced (M. Siemieński, Księga świąt i obyczajów żydowskich, Warsaw 1993, pp. 73–74).
During Hanukkah, one more candle is lit each day in an eight-branched candelabrum called a hanukkiah, which is placed in the windows or in front of the doors of Jewish homes. The candles are lit by the eldest male in the family. During the holiday, one should not work or even study Torah. Fasting is also forbidden (A. Unterman, Żydzi. Wiara i życie, Łódź 1989, pp. 223–225).
The Hanukkah lamp from the collection of the Lublin Village Open Air Museum consists of eight spherical oil containers bolted to a base. They are covered with openwork lids (two of them are missing). An embossed decoration has been screwed onto the backplate, the central point of which is an image of a seven-branched candlestick (menorah). To its left is an image of a lion leaning against a palm tree. The top of the backplate, across its entire width, features an image of a grapevine. At the right edge of the backplate, a spherical container (the so-called shammes, i.e. an additional burner) hangs on a protruding support. At the left edge of the backplate, on a catch, hangs a small oil jug with an ornamental handle. There are three holes in the backplate and the base for decorative elements that have not been preserved: a lion leaning against a palm tree (which was present on the other side) and a crown, which probably adorned the backplate. On the underside of the base are embossed hallmarks: an image of a two-headed eagle with a crown, an inscription in an oval: "FRAGET/ N/ PLAQUE", an illegible mark in an oval, the model number "1946" and the letter: "N".
The item was purchased for the collection of the Lublin Open Air Village Museum from a resident of Lublin in 1972.