For the first time in 20 years, Hanukkah and Christmas fall on the same day. While the date of Christmas has been fixed on Dec. 25 for nearly 1,700 years, Hanukkah, which begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month Kislev, changes every year because the Jewish calendar is based on a lunar calendar that is about 354 days long rather than a solar calendar that is 365 days long.
Both Christmas and Hanukkah are significant cultural and religious holidays – or holy days.
As Christians mark the birth of the Christ Child, an event recorded in the Christian gospels of Matthew and Luke, the story of Hanukkah is not recorded in Hebrew scripture because the Maccabean Revolt, which took place in 165 BCE, occurred after the last book of the Hebrew scriptures, Malachi, was written. The story is told in the First and Second Books of Maccabees, canonical scriptures in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches but not included in the Christian bible by Protestants.
Hanukkah is a memorial to a miracle that occurred when Judas Maccabee and his brothers led an uprising against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of the Seleucid Empire, which was located in Syria. In an effort to eradicate the Jewish religion, Antiochus had forbid the observance of Jewish practices, and it was a capital offence to possess a copy of the Torah.
Following the revolt, the Maccabees were able to reclaim the city of Jerusalem and rededicate the temple which had been violated during the Seleucid occupation. However, the rededication required that the temple lamp be lit with holy oil and only one cruse of holy oil sealed by the High Priest before the occupation, enough for just one day of light, was found. It would take eight days to produce more holy oil – one day to make the oil and seven days for it to be ritually purified.
The temple lamp was lit and, according to the story, the lamp miraculously burned for eight days.
The story of Hanukkah is one of faith in the providence of God and of hope in the face of adversity. Like Christmas, the eight-day celebration, which begins tonight and ends Jan. 2, is associated with the symbol of light. Holiday lights decorate town squares, businesses, and homes around the world to bring cheer and inspiration on long winter nights.
The editors, writers, creatives, and editorial board members of the Estes Valley Voice wish our readers, sponsors, advertisers and all the people of the Estes Valley a blessed holiday season.