Falling in December, Hanukkah celebrates how the Jewish people were saved from Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Jews in Greece associate Hanukkah with the legendary young Jewish woman called Judith, who saved her people from Persian conquest.
In Ioannina, Hanukkah is regarded as a celebration for the home, since that is where all customs pertaining to it take place. The eight-day lighting of the eight-candled Hanukkah lamp takes precedence, each lighting taking place during a family meal. The most popular of the delicious foodstuffs that local housewives prepare are the lallagit pancakes, as local children call them, honey doughnuts and fritters.
