It's known as the Festival of Lights. And its first night, this year, coincided with Christmas Day. We're talking about Hanukkah. Which celebrates a small amount of oil lasting eight long nights.

Long Island Jews were expected to celebrate the start of Hanukkah Wednesday with traditional dreidels, menorah lightings and, of course, latkes as the holiday — in a calendar rarity — landed this year on Christmas Day for the first time in nearly two decades.

On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multi-branched candelabra.

Christmas Day also marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah - it's the first time in 19 years that both holidays begin at the same time. The eight-day-long festival features the lighting of a Hanukkah menorah every evening to symbolize God's presence.

While the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah often falls at varying points during November and December, this year's festival of lights begins a bit later - and it comes with a calendar rarity.