In Halacha there are seven liquids that are defined as "official liquids" by Halachic standards (with all sorts of ramifications), and can be remembered by the Hebrew acronym Ya"d shacha"t da"m (י"ד שח"ט ד"ם), which stands for: יין, דם, שמן, חלב, טל, דבש, מים - wine, blood, oil, milk, dew, honey and water.
Now, there's an idea that each of these liquids correlates to one of the seven Jewish holidays: Wine - Purim, Blood - Pesach (בדמיך חיי, the plague of blood), Oil - Chanukah, Milk - Shavuot, Dew - Yom Kippur (dew isn't a liquid in a regular sense and Yom Kippur isn't a holiday in a regular sense), Honey - Rosh Hashanah, Water - Sukkot (בחג נידונים על המים, we start asking for rain on Shmini Atzeret, etc).
Interestingly enough, the two man-made liquids correlate to the only two holidays created by our sages (man-made) and not God: Wine - Purim and Oil - Chanukah.
And we can take this idea a step further: One of the reasons that Chanukah was created was because the Jews couldn't celebrate Sukkot that year because they were busy with the war and the Temple was in the hands of the Greeks, so Chanukah was a kind of late Sukkot. But then they could've said: Well, now we have the Temple back, we don't need Chanukah and we can just celebrate the miracles of Chanukah together with Sukkot!
Except, Sukkot is water and Chanukah is oil. Oil and water don't mix. Each liquid stays as it is. Each liquid, each holiday stands by itself, because each one is special in itself.
Happy Chanukah!
Now, there's an idea that each of these liquids correlates to one of the seven Jewish holidays: Wine - Purim, Blood - Pesach (בדמיך חיי, the plague of blood), Oil - Chanukah, Milk - Shavuot, Dew - Yom Kippur (dew isn't a liquid in a regular sense and Yom Kippur isn't a holiday in a regular sense), Honey - Rosh Hashanah, Water - Sukkot (בחג נידונים על המים, we start asking for rain on Shmini Atzeret, etc).
Interestingly enough, the two man-made liquids correlate to the only two holidays created by our sages (man-made) and not God: Wine - Purim and Oil - Chanukah.
And we can take this idea a step further: One of the reasons that Chanukah was created was because the Jews couldn't celebrate Sukkot that year because they were busy with the war and the Temple was in the hands of the Greeks, so Chanukah was a kind of late Sukkot. But then they could've said: Well, now we have the Temple back, we don't need Chanukah and we can just celebrate the miracles of Chanukah together with Sukkot!
Except, Sukkot is water and Chanukah is oil. Oil and water don't mix. Each liquid stays as it is. Each liquid, each holiday stands by itself, because each one is special in itself.
Happy Chanukah!