Festival of Lights
- proper noun
:
Festival de las Luces
- "Shmuel, what do we do for the Festival of Lights?" Shmuel had answered this question many times before.
- Festival of Lights, Hanukkah
- celebrate the Festival of Lights
- Jewish Festival of Lights
Examples
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The Jewish Festival of Lights is celebrated for eight days.
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"The first night of the Festival of Lights!" he replied.
Fiction book (2001) -
Known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah usually occurs in December.
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Melanie is referring to the eight-day Festival of Lights known as Hanukkah, which arrives this year on December 7 at sundown.
Synonyms
1
5.6
An eight-day Jewish festival when people light a menorah each night
An eight-day Jewish festival when families light candles to remember the Temple in Jerusalem being made holy again
An eight-day Jewish holiday called Hanukkah when families light candles each night to remember a miracle
An eight-day Jewish festival in winter called Hanukkah that celebrates the Temple in Jerusalem being made holy again
An eight-day Jewish festival also called Hanukkah that remembers the Temple in Jerusalem being made holy again
An eight-day Jewish festival when families light a special candle holder and eat traditional foods
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'festival' (a public celebration) combined with 'lights' clearly denotes a celebration featuring decorative light displays. This naming pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard noun + of + noun composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Festival of Lights is another name for 'Hanukkah' and comes from a famous story about a lamp in the temple. One popular story says a small jar of oil kept the temple 'menorah' burning for eight days, so families light candles each night to remember the miracle, and that's why the name means a time of lights and celebration.