Hanukkah 2026 in the Netherlands: the eight nights, lightings and concerts

Hanukkah (Chanoeka) 2026 begins on the evening of Friday 4 December, when the first candle is lit, and ends on Saturday 12 December: eight evenings of lights in the Netherlands.

In the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Stichting Jewish Music Concerts celebrates the second evening with its 12th Hanukkah concert on Saturday 5 December (from €25). On Sunday 6 December Utrecht, The Hague and Eindhoven hold their public celebrations, and Den Bosch, Kampen, Sliedrecht, Dordrecht and Lelystad have dates too.

This guide lists 11 public lightings and concerts with a 2026 date, the 2025 dates of the celebrations that have not announced yet, and when each candle is lit.

Checked 2 November 2026. The national celebration on the Dam in Amsterdam, the Zuidas lighting and the lightings in Rotterdam, Nijmegen, Haarlem and Groningen had not announced a 2026 date; their 2025 dates are below.

Hanukkah 2026 in the Netherlands: public celebrations and concerts at a glance

These public Hanukkah events had a 2026 date on the organiser's page, the venue's page or a municipal notice on 2 November, in order of date. Utrecht and Eindhoven welcome everyone, young and old; several celebrations ask you to register first.

When is Hanukkah 2026? The eight evenings and their candles

Hanukkah 2026 runs from the evening of Friday 4 December to Saturday 12 December, which Chabad Nederland gives as "5–12 December": a Jewish day starts at sunset, so the first candle burns on the evening before the first full day. Every evening one more candle is lit, plus the shamash, the helper candle that lights the others.

On the two Fridays the Hanukkah candles go on before the Shabbat candles, and on Saturday 5 December only after Shabbat has ended, according to Chabad Nederland's Hanukkah checklist. On the other evenings the candles are lit after dark and should burn for at least half an hour.

In Amsterdam Shabbat begins at 16:11 on Friday 4 December and 16:09 on Friday 11 December, and ends at 17:18 on Saturday 5 December, according to the NIK's Shabbat times; other regions differ by a few minutes.

Hanukkah is not one of the official public holidays in the Netherlands, so schools, offices and shops keep their normal hours.

National Hanukkah celebration on the Dam in Amsterdam: 2026 date not announced yet

The national Hanukkah celebration (Nationale Chanoekaviering) on the Dam in Amsterdam had no 2026 date on 2 November 2026. In 2025 it was held on Sunday 21 December 2025, the eighth evening, from 16:30: the big menorah on the Dam was lit, and minister Paul (Social Affairs and Employment) gave a speech. The start time comes from Crescas' overview of the 2025 celebrations, which listed no ticket or registration for the Dam.

Last year Crescas, a Jewish education centre in Amsterdam, published its overview on 4 December, and Chabad's national list of public lightings came out the same day (chanoeka.info), so check both again in early December.

Hanukkah concert in the Concertgebouw 2026: Saturday 5 December

The 12th annual Hanukkah Concert, "Freedom!", is in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on Saturday 5 December 2026 at 20:30 and ends before 23:00, with one interval, on the second evening of Hanukkah. The organiser, Stichting Jewish Music Concerts, gives 20:15 as the start on its own site, so be in your seat by then.

The chanukia is lit on stage, cantor Gábor Raáb from Budapest sings with the Jewish Amsterdam Chamber Ensemble under Barry Mehler, and the programme mixes Jewish, Israeli, classical and contemporary music. All introductions are in English, and Jewish and non-Jewish visitors are welcome, according to the Concertgebouw.

Tickets cost €75, €55, €45, €35 or €25 depending on the seat, and €55 to €18 if you are 30 or younger, plus €5 per order. A sufganiyah (a doughnut like a Berliner) and a glass of kosher wine are included.

The same organiser held its 11th Hanukkah concert, with the same cantor, in De Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam on Wednesday 17 December 2025 (De Waalse Kerk); no Hanukkah concert there had been announced for 2026 on 2 November.

Why do some listings say 6 December?

A second Hanukkah concert on Sunday 6 December 2026 is organised by a different foundation, Stichting Chanukah Concert, and has no public ticket sale. It is sold out according to chanukah-concert.nl, while chanukah.nl still takes registrations per person by email and keeps the venue secret for security reasons.

The two foundations take turns at the Concertgebouw, according to the government's answers to MPs' questions. In 2025 the Concertgebouw ended its agreement with Stichting Chanukah Concert over its choice of cantor, Shai Abramson, whom the hall describes as the chief cantor of the Israeli army (Concertgebouw statement). The foundation said the choice of a cantor is a matter of religious freedom (press release).

Under a joint agreement of 12 November 2025, the foundation replaced its afternoon concert of 14 December 2025 with one without him, and he sang at two evening concerts for invited guests only, as the answers to MPs confirmed afterwards.

Hanukkah in Amsterdam: the Zuidas, the car parade and the Portuguese Synagogue

The Hanukkah lighting on the Zuidas in Amsterdam, organised by Chabad on Campus and Maccabi Nederland, had not announced its 2026 date on 2 November. In 2025 it was on Monday 15 December 2025 from 17:30, with a Hanukkah market and more than 1,000 visitors, and registration was required (organiser's report; time from Crescas).

Registration for the car parade on Tuesday 8 December had closed on the organiser's page by 2 November. The candlelight concert in the Portuguese Synagogue on Thursday 10 December is the only Hanukkah item in the Jewish Cultural Quarter's 2026 agenda; the Jewish Museum had no Hanukkah family activity yet, while in 2025 children baked Hanukkah biscuits there on 21 and 22 December (Joods Museum).

The Liberal Jewish Community (LJG Amsterdam) celebrated on Sunday 14 December 2025 from 16:00 with registration, and a lighting was held on the square at the Kastelenstraat on Tuesday 16 December 2025 at 17:00 (Crescas); neither had a 2026 date on 2 November.

Hanukkah in Utrecht, The Hague and Eindhoven on Sunday 6 December

Chanoeka Utrecht 2026 is on Sunday 6 December from 16:00 to 19:00 in Het Munthuys, the former Dutch Mint at Leidseweg 90, with a programme for children; the organisers, Chabad-Lubavitch Utrecht, will publish the rest of the programme later (chanoeka.info). In 2025 it was free, with no registration, at Sociëteit de Vereeniging on the Mariaplaats.

The Hague lights its Mondrian-style menorah in the atrium of City Hall (Spui 70) on Sunday 6 December 2026 from 17:00 to 18:30, organised by CHAJ with the municipality, followed by doughnuts and Jewish music. You reply through the RSVP button on CHAJ's page.

A municipal permit in The Hague also allows a menorah on the pavement at Carnegieplein 2, the Peace Palace, from 3 to 14 December (notice); no lighting there has been announced.

Eindhoven lights its big chanukia on the steps of the town hall on Stadhuisplein on Sunday 6 December 2026 at 16:30, and the celebration goes on until about 18:30 next door in Het Hornemann Huis (Stadhuisplein 3), with doughnuts, coffee and a small Hanukkah exhibition. Entry is free, but the Jewish Community of Brabant asks everyone to register.

When is Hanukkah in Rotterdam, Haarlem, Nijmegen and Groningen?

Rotterdam, Haarlem, Nijmegen, Groningen and the other towns below had not announced their 2026 Hanukkah lighting on 2 November 2026. These are their 2025 dates and times from Chabad's national list (chanoeka.info), which last year was published on 4 December:

Delft held a public lighting on Sunday 21 December 2025 on the Gasthuisplaats next to the synagogue (permit notice); no 2026 notice had been published on 2 November. The interfaith light ceremony in the Groningen synagogue on Sunday 13 December 2026 (Synagoge Groningen) is not a Hanukkah celebration: it falls the day after Hanukkah ends.

What is Hanukkah?

Hanukkah (Chanoeka in Dutch) is the eight-day Jewish festival of lights; it recalls how the Temple in Jerusalem was dedicated again in 164 BCE, according to the Dutch Inventory of Intangible Heritage, which has listed it since December 2013. In the story, the oil found in the Temple should have lasted one day, yet the lamp kept burning for eight.

At home the lights burn in a chanukia, the lamp with eight branches and one more, and many families place it in a window. Blessings and songs go with the lighting, there are special treats, and children spin the dreidel, a top with Hebrew letters on its sides. Public lightings in squares and town halls are a newer custom, which the heritage inventory links to freedom of religion.

Hanukkah menorah or chanukia: how many candles?

A chanukia holds eight candles in a row plus the shamash, so on the eighth evening of Hanukkah nine flames burn. The seven-branched menorah of the Temple is a different lamp, but "menorah" is often used for the Hanukkah lamp too, also by the organisers of the public lightings. Over the eight evenings you need 44 candles: 36 for the evenings plus a shamash each night.

What do you eat at Hanukkah?

At Hanukkah people eat food fried in oil, a reminder of the oil in the Temple story: sufganiyot (doughnuts, in Dutch soefganiot) and latkes (potato pancakes), and children get Hanukkah gelt, according to Chabad Nederland. Doughnuts are served after the lightings in The Hague, Eindhoven and Den Bosch, and the Concertgebouw concert includes one with a glass of kosher wine.

The Jewish Museum's café in Amsterdam holds a free tasting of Jewish food (Proeftafel Lekker Joods!) with a museum ticket on Sundays at 13:00, also on Sunday 6 December (JCK).

Jewish music and walks in Hanukkah week

In Hanukkah week (4–12 December 2026) Klezmagic plays EKKO in Utrecht on Friday 4 December at 20:00, the Amsterdam Klezmer Band plays Parkstad Limburg Theaters in Heerlen that evening at 20:30, and the Etty Hillesum Centrum in Deventer leads a Jewish walk on Sunday 6 December at 13:30.

Quick answers

When is Hanukkah 2026? From the evening of Friday 4 December, when the first candle is lit, to Saturday 12 December 2026. The eighth candle is lit on Friday 11 December.

When is the Hanukkah celebration on the Dam in 2026? The 2026 date of the national Hanukkah celebration on the Dam had not been announced on 2 November 2026. In 2025 it was on Sunday 21 December 2025 at 16:30.

Is the Concertgebouw Hanukkah concert on 5 or 6 December? The public concert in the Concertgebouw is on Saturday 5 December 2026 at 20:30 (the organiser says 20:15), from €25. The concert on Sunday 6 December is another foundation's, at an undisclosed place, with no public ticket sale.

Can non-Jews go to a Hanukkah celebration? Yes. Utrecht and Eindhoven invite everyone, young and old, and the Concertgebouw welcomes Jewish and non-Jewish visitors. The Hague (RSVP), Eindhoven, Den Bosch, Dordrecht and Sliedrecht ask you to register first.

Where can you celebrate Hanukkah on Sunday 6 December? In Utrecht (Het Munthuys, 16:00), Eindhoven (Stadhuisplein, 16:30) and The Hague (City Hall, 17:00).

How many candles does a chanukia have? Nine: eight for the evenings and the shamash that lights them. You need 44 candles for all eight evenings.

What do you say at Hanukkah? "Chag Chanukah sameach" or "Chag sameach", happy holiday; "Happy Hanukkah" is common in English.

Is Hanukkah Jewish Christmas? No. Hanukkah is a separate Jewish festival about the Temple in Jerusalem; it often falls in December because it follows the Jewish calendar, and in 2026 it ends two weeks before Christmas.

For other evenings of lights in December, see our guide to the lichtjesavonden of December 2026, and for the rest of the month in the capital, Amsterdam in December 2026.

Cover photo: Dov Harrington / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.