VIDEO: Hundreds Celebrate Hanukkah With 'Fire and Ice'

Hundreds turned out Wednesday to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah at the Porter Ranch Town Center with "Fire and Ice" as they watched the lighting of a second flame on a giant menorah.

Chabad rabbis hosted the annual North Valley public festivities featuring both a fire juggler to light up the night and a hill of snow to cool things down.

They danced, they sang, they partied like it was the second century BCE. That's when a band of Jewish resistance fighters called the Maccabees successfully defeated the Syrian-Greeks and restored Jewish sovereignty to the land of Israel.

The eight-day festival is the only Jewish holiday that commemorates a military victory, and is often called the Festival of Lights because, according to the story, only a small vial of purified holy oil could be found to rekindle the temple's eternal light. Instead of burning just one day, it burned for eight, until more oil could be obtained.

"It is a holiday that enriches our lives with the light of tradition," said Rabbi Yossi Spritzer, director of Chabad of Chatsworth. "In ancient times, our ancestors rededicated the temple in Jerusalem with the mMenorah. Today, we rededicate ourselves to making this world a better and brighter place."

And whether you spell it Hanukkah, Chanukah, Chanukkah, or Chanuka, it was a heck of a party.