Lights

[mamadeb]

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah.

It is a celebration of many things - of a miraculous military victory over greater forces, of the rededication of our Temple after desecration by those forces, of the faith that HaShem would allow one day's worth of fuel last until more could be procured. It is a celebration of lightS and of joy.

It is NOT a celebration of the coming of the light again, because it is NOT a solistice celebration.

1. It's a celebration of a historical event. It would be like calling Columbus Day an equinox festival. It happens roughly around the same time of year, so... (Passover is a spring festival, and effort is made to keep in the spring time. Of course, that keeps all the other holidays in their seasons, too.)

2. The idea behind solistice festivals, from what I gather (and if I am wrong, *please* tell me) is to either call the sun back because it's gone away OR as a reminder that the light will return - or to light the long dark night. None of those work for Chanukah. In the first two cases - it is a daily miracle that the Earth rotates and the sun rises every morning. EVERY morning. No matter the length of the day. To believe that God needs reminding or that we need reasuring makes no sense from that perspective. And Chanukah lights do not need to burn for more than an hour on weeknights (slightly longer on Shabbat), and they are lit as soon as possible after full dark. That doesn't do a good job of lighting the long night - especially since one is forbidden to use them AS a source of light. Their only purpose is to publicize the miracles.

Also note that Chanukah can be as early as November - three weeks before the solistice, while the days are getting progressively shorter. So they really can't symbolize the return of the light.

Not every culture has a solistice festival. Chanukah is a bright and lovely celebration in its own right (and I wish very, very much that it happened in some other month besides Kislev, because then none of these comparisons would have happened.)

Comments

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

All that is true. But this year the first night falls on the solstice (forgive me for making a point of the spelling -- not "solistice"), which is a coincidence (just literally) that some may find pleasant. :-)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Some might, but I'm also seeing lots and lots of posts that seem to regard it as just another solstice festival.

Which is, *to me*, like putting ham in one's latkes.

[ckd]

Well, there was that Balducci's deli sign from last year.

[boobalah.livejournal.com]

This post made the think of this.

"if it weren't for the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem; there would be no Christmas to celebrate and there would be no Hanaukkah or Kwaanza, or Solstice or all of the rest"

From here

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/money/is-jesus-being-removed-from-christmas-330828/

[batyatoon]

I suspect at times that had it happened in some month that wasn't in the winter, we might have settled on a different mode of commemorating it.

But, yeah. Februaryish would've been nice.

[sethg]

OMG this person is serious.

And this, friends and neighbors, is why we need multicultural education in the public schools.

[boobalah.livejournal.com]

It's dreadful, isn't it? It's even worse than the King James Bible only folks, one of whom I once heard assert that if the Original Greek or Hebrew contradicts the KJV than the original Greek or Hebrew is WRONG. Yeah. I weep for the future of humanity on some days.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That. :)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I'm finding it very hard to feel sorry for most of the commentators there - it's like they NEED to find a reason to feel persecuted.

(I should try harder to find a reason NOT to be. And seriously - I am remarkably calm and sane this year.)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Well, there is still the miracle of the oil, although that's actually a minor point.

As for February - too close to Purim. :)

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Being persecuted is endemic to a particular mindset that finds it easier to fight for their so-called endangered rights, even when they're in the majority and in political/social control, than to be gracious and tolerant of other beliefs, especially because their natural impulse is...to persecute other-believers. (This certainly does not describe ALL people in the majority, nor even a plurality of them. But whether Christian, Muslim, or other, depending on where in the world one may be, the mindset I describe is pretty similar, when found, across those groups.)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes.

And, no, I don't think there are any groups totally immune to that.

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

The idea behind solistice festivals, from what I gather (and if I am wrong, *please* tell me)

One of the ideas behind my personal solstice festival is simply to mark another point along the yearly cycle of longer and shorter days, of seasons following seasons, that comes from living on a tilted planet. No miracles necessary... I just mark the wonderfulness at various points around the wheel of the year, noting time passing. Yule for me is a celebration of thankful warmth and light, hearth and home, contrasted against dark broad starry skies and chill winds sweeping across Midwestern snowscapes, and crystal-clear views of the local mountains after the downpour of Southern California rainstorm.

Here's another wish to add to my holiday hopes this season: may all of our celebrations be less misunderstood in the coming year! :-)

[museclio]

I'd tend to disagree - but only slightly. Historically speaking , leaving od out of it, as it appears that the miracle of the lights was a later addition to make god's presence in the story felt. I'd argue that the method of celebration is in fact tied to most culture's sympathetic magic. It's light increasing at the darkest time of hte year.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I hope that I didn't inspire this and if I did I apologize. I love that so many different traditions have celebrations at this same time of year; I don't think, and hope I didn't say, it has to all be for the same reason.

[magid.livejournal.com]

What?! There are people who really believe this?

[boobalah.livejournal.com]

Yes. Really. I have quite a bit of experience translating and I have no words for mishegas like this. They believe that the KJV constituyes, basically a second revelation. They follow after Peter Ruckman.

[boobalah.livejournal.com]

What about Cheshvan? It look fairly empty. :D

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Your name is Elke? There is another Elke in the world???

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

A frelichen Chanukah!

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

That's far more than a slight disagreement. Even if it's a later addition, there's no record of a festival of lights prior to the Chanukah celebration. That is, it's not an explanation of what went before.

While there is sympathetic magic in Judaism - pounding willow branches on Hoshanah Rabbah, I don't think this is a case of it - if it were, there would be a greater effort to keep it this side of the solstice.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

No - you didn't. Or rather, there was no specific post that did.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Not every culture has a solistice festival.

A very true statement. They tend not to show up in cultures that use lunar calendars like ours, Islam, and a fair number of Asian calendars. The notion that "everybody" has a solstice holiday seems to have come out of the same "movement" that thinks that everything European is what everyone does -- or New Age types who are invested in the unversalness of their ideas.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yes. I've met one. There are entire websites devoted to this belief (do a search on AV 1611 - searching KJV only gets refutation sites.)

It's very weird - they think that it should be the origin of all translations - that *it* should be translated into Hebrew or Greek for readers of those languages.