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Our Past in Present Tense
The Winter Solstice Festival
Dr.
Yehuda Shabatay
Already at this time of year, we are constantly reminded to buy gifts for the rapidly approaching holiday season. My curiosity for the origins of this custom led me to investigate similar practices in the ancient world that can be traced back to the winter solstice.
I
found that in the Old Roman Empire, the Saturnalia (in honor of the god of
agriculture), held between December 17 and 24, was a time of merrymaking and the
exchange of gifts. Actually, the festivities did not stop even then; they
continued for another week. On New Year's day the Romans decorated their homes
with lights and greenery and presented gifts to the children and to the poor.
The early Christians who lived in the Roman Empire were as delighted by these
celebrations as were their neighbors. Consequently, instead of denigrating the
holidays as pagan rites, they offered other reasons for their continuance. Dec.
25 was declared Jesus' birthday and Jan 1 the day of his circumcision. Although
the Gospels do not provide the slightest indication for the original dates of
those events, everyone cheerfully accepted the new interpretations, with
virtually no questions asked.
Thus,
the midwinter rejoicing could continue as before. The participants were able to
hold on to the prevalent customs and, at the same time, express their faith in
Jesus, who was born to bring light to the world. As a result, the Christians
could decorate their homes with greenery and exchange gifts with one another as
all Romans did, regardless of their faith.
At this point you may interject while this information may be interesting as far
as Christians are concerned, it has nothing to do with the Jews. Channukah, the
festival of "dedication," is not based on pagan practices but on an
historical event that took place on Kislev 25, 164 B.C.E., and it commemorates
the first war for religious freedom in human history.
Unfortunately, this statement is somewhat oversimplified because our three sources on the reasons for celebrating Channukah contradict each other. The First Book of Maccabees describes the festivity as an original one: after conquering Jerusalem, the Jewish fighters rededicated the Temple's altar on the third anniversary of its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria (4:54-56).
The Second Book of Maccabees maintains that the first Channukah was not meant to be a new holiday. It lasted for eight days like Sukkot (the "Camping Out" festival) because the Maccabean guerillas could not observe the festival of Sukkot "while they were wandering the mountains and caverns like wild animals" (10:6-7). It is important to note that neither of these two sources mentions the kindling of lights as a tradition instituted on the original Channukah, or soon after.
That tradition is first mentioned only centuries later, in the Talmud (Shabbat, 21a) with the explanation that the Channukah lights recall the miracle God wrought by allowing one cruse of oil to burn for the eight days the priests needed to prepare pure oil for the Temple lights. Since the Books of Maccabees were excluded from the Bible, and thus ignored by traditional Judaism, the Talmudic rabbis' interpretation of the holiday has prevailed.
From the second century on, the rabbis de-emphasized the Maccabees' fight for religious freedom and urged their followers to concentrate on the miraculous aspects of Channukah. Actually, the Talmudic rabbis may have preferred to omit Channukah from the religious calendar altogether because in their days, Jerusalem, and almost all Judea, lay in ruins as a result of two disastrous uprisings against the Romans. therefore, the rabbis found any reminder of previous wars, even victorious ones, too painful to recall.
But by then Channuakah had become too popular among the rank and file Jews who were pleased to join their neighbors in the widespread celebration of the winter solstice. As a matter of fact, it may not have been a coincidence that Antiochus dedicated the Jerusalem Temple to the Olympic Zeus on Kislev 125, 167BCE, because it was a time of merrymaking throughout the Greco-Roman world. As a result, the Maccabees' decision to rededicate the Temple three years later on the same day, merely perpetuated the importance of the season for their contemporaries.
Regardless of its origins, Channukah has remained a much favored Jewish holiday for other reasons, too: with only symbolic obligations, namely the lighting of candles and abstaining from work while the candles burned, one can enjoy a variety of "traditional" pastimes. In the Middle ages, for example, card playing became associated with the festival. Although the rabbis frowned on such "gambling," it was a good way to spend the dreary winter nights.
What about today? Let's face it, Channukah gelt and latkes have as much do do with the Maccabean war for religious freedom as Christmas trees and sleigh rides have with Jesus' birth. Yet, we joyfully persist with these customs not even realizing that the roots of winter festivities, including gift giving, go back well beyond the origins of each established religious holiday.
Dr. Yehuda Shabatay received rabbinical training in Budapest, a master of jurisprudence degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his doctorate in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He was engaged in Jewish educational administration over most of his career and now teaches Jewish studies and history at Palomar College and City Colleges.