Thus is the root of the holiday's eight days of celebration. Though this year's holiday officially began on the evening of Dec. 6, early celebrations have been put together by members of the Jewish Student Union, or JSU.

One event, Sparty's Hanukkah Party, took place at Club Rush Dec. 3. The party was put on by the JSU's Jews in Greek Life board members, composed of packaging sophomore Ari Suris and advertising sophomore Emily Einstandig.

Sparty's Hanukkah Party has been going for roughly eight years, with traditional Hanukkah foods such as latkes, or potato pancakes cooked with onion. Other foods included pita and hummus and Hanukkah gelt, which are chocolate coins wrapped in gold and silver foil. Dreidels, the traditional four-sided spinning tops used in children's games, were laid out on every table.

"Sparty's Hanukkah Party is a cultural celebration of the holiday of Hanukkah, it's the celebration of light and we stress that it's a cultural event," Suris said.

As the night went on, Club Rush gradually filled up more and more with MSU students, whether Jewish or not. Of particular note was the age of many of the attendees, who were younger than years past, something Einstandig was grateful for.

"I think we reached a different group of people because we are sophomores, so we were able to get younger and older people," she said. "Sometimes I feel it's aimed towards people that are of the same year. For example, last year the board members were two juniors, so there were a lot more upperclassmen."

Another JSU event was the Hanukkah Palooza hosted at the Lester and Jewell Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center and organized by hospitality business sophomore and Jewish Culture Chair Jami Laub.

"(We served) latkes and donuts and it's just like, because we're not going to be home for the holidays, it's a good way for the Jewish community to come together and celebrate Hanukkah," Laub said.

Students who attended the Hanukkah Palooza made handcrafted menorahs, the eight branched candelabra unique to the Hanukkah season, which they could use to light their own candles during the week of Hanukkah.

Aside from these two events MSU Hillel helped to put on, there will also be Shabbat services Friday with services starting at 6 p.m. followed by a dinner at 7 p.m. Hillel services are open to all, though they're structured more for Reform and Conservative practitioners of Judaism. 

For those who lean more towards the Orthodox branch, the Chabad House of Lansing on Elizabeth Street will also be hosting Hanukkah services Friday at 5:45 p.m. followed by a dinner and morning services on Saturday starting at 11 a.m.

The Chabad House has also been lighting a menorah at the rock on Farm Lane every evening of this week. Starting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday there will be a special lighting, which will include donuts and music.

They also lit a carved ice menorah at the Munn Ice Arena Monday afternoon, followed by open skating and broomball.

Hendel Weingarten, one of the rabbis at the Chabad House who helped organize many of these events, had an overall uplifting message about the holiday season.

“Hanukkah is a time to illuminate the world with light, in a time of darkness we are looking in all directions for opportunities to light up the world, and through lighting the menorah we have that opportunity to kindle good and put out goodness in the world," he said.

For the first time there is a menorah stationed outside the Capitol Building in Lansing that will be lit from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day this week. Weingarten urged everyone to stop by and check out it out if they had the time.