OT Re: Hannukkah, was: Essays, OT:Ebony

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 7130

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "naama " <naama_gat at h...> wrote:

> BTW, It might come as a surprise to non-Jewish Americans, but
> Hanukka is not an important holiday at all, really. Its been made a
> lot of bc of its (completely coincidental) nearness to Christmas.

It's not really a COMPLETELY coincidental nearness to Xmas: both are 
at times set by the Winter Solstice. I think it is no longer 
controversial to say that, whenever Jesus ben Joseph's birthday is, 
it is not in mid-winter (when shepherds are not watching their flocks 
in the fields by night) but the Celebration was placed then in order 
to compete with the Pagan celebration of Mithras's birthday on Winter 
Solstice.

I'm afraid that it still is controversial to say that Hannukkah was 
adopted as a holiday in order to compete with the Persian / 
Zoraoastrian celebration of the Winter Solstice. How fortunate that 
SOME historical event (the Maccabees re-conquering the Temple, as it 
happens) occured at that time.

But the scholars spent 1900 or so years being VERY uncomfortable 
about Hannukkah, because of the Maccabee connection. First, while 
Judaea was 'under the heavy foot' of Rome, people liked to avoid the 
subject of Maccabees altogether, because it was that dynasty which 
had INVITED Rome to intervene (as their ally against Syria). Second, 
after the Bar Kochkba rebellion, grown-ups did not want their 
children listening to stories that would encourage them to rise up 
against the imperial overlords in a doomed rebellion and get 
themselves killed. Which is why emphasizing Judah Maccabee and 
his brothers as successful freedom fighters throwing off colonial 
rulers is a very twentieth (now twenti-first) century thing. Our 
(our = baby boomers's) great-grandparents believed that the holiday 
was ONLY about the MIRACULOUS OIL.