The accepted procedure for kindling the Hanukkah lights is to light one candle (or oil lamp) on the first night and one additional candle each night (going from left to right), until the last night when eight candles are lit (kindling them from left to right). An alternate tradition is recorded whereby eight candles are lit on the first night, seven on the second, and so forth, until only one candle is lit on the eighth night. An additional candle called the shammash ("serving light") is used to kindle the other lights. The practice is essentially a home ceremony, but candles are lit also in the synagogue. Children are usually given a gift of money (hanukkah gelt) for the festival.

Hanukkah is expressed in the liturgy in a number of ways, the most important being the introduction of the AL HANISSIM prayer in the AMIDAH and GRACE AFTER MEALS. HALLEL is recited at the Morning Service, and there is a special READING OF THE LAW each day of the festival. A Hanukkah hymn, MA'OZ TSUR, written in the 13th century, is very popular in the home and synagogue, and is sung in Ashkenazi communities after the kindling of the lights. The Sephardi practice is to read Psalm 30.

It has become customary to hold Hanukkah parties with songs and games, especially for children. The best-known of the Hanukkah games is the dreydel, a spinning top used for a kind of "put and take" game. The dreydel is inscribed for this purpose on its four sides with the Hebrew letters, nun, gimmel, he, shin, an acrostic for the words nes gadol hayah sham ("a great miracle happened there"). Presumably because of the association with oil, it has become popular to eat latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyyot (doughnuts).

In modern Israel Hanukkah has become an occasion when the theme of national courage is underlined, since it was this quality, which gained the Jews of the Maccabean period their independence. In recognition of the heroism and battlefield prowess of the Maccabees, a torch is carried from their traditional burial site at Modi'in, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to various points throughout the country. In many Diaspora countries, especially the US, Hanukkah has received a previously unknown emphasis, largely to compensate the Jewish child for the overwhelming impact of Christmas in his surroundings.