by Nate
If religion has not affected you directly, by going to church or temple or some other form of participation, it has probably affected you indirectly, through religious holidays such as Christmas and Hanukkah.
In American society, Christmas is widely celebrated with things like Santa Claus, colorful lights, and gift exchange, but this is not how Christmas started. Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25th, which to Christians means something more – the birthday of Jesus. It is written in the Bible that Jesus was born in an animal manger in a stable. You can read more about this in our article about Christianity: http://religionrethought.blogspot.com/2010/11/christianity-brief-summary.html
Have you ever noticed Jewish kids getting presents for eight straight days during Hanukkah and wondered why this is? A holy Jewish temple in Jerusalem was once captured by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of Zeus. It took the Jews about a year to reclaim their temple, and by that time it had been horribly defiled by the sacrifice of pigs and the worship of what they considered to be false gods. To purify the temple, they decided they must burn ritual oil in the temple for eight days. Sadly they only had enough oil for one day, but this one day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for all eight days.
Now that you know the history behind Christmas and Hanukkah, maybe this time of year won’t be confusing for you anymore. Happy Holidays!
Works Cited
Fairchild, Mary. "The Christmas Story - This Bible Story Summary Tells the Christmas Story of the Birth of Jesus." Christianity - About Christianity and Living the Christian Life. Web. 11 Dec. 2010 http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestorysummaries/p/christmasstory.htm
"Judaism - ReligionFacts." Religion, World Religions, Comparative Religion - Just the Facts on the World's Religions. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.religionfacts.com/judaism/index.htm
"The Land of Israel." Judaism 101. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. http://www.jewfaq.org/israel.htm#Promised
Pelaia, Ariela. "Hanukkah - What Is Hanukkah." About Judaism. Web. 11 Dec. 2010. http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/hanukkah.htm
Actually, you've made an error in the last part of the Hanukka summary. The candle was supposed the symbolize the forever presence of God, and it must always be kept burning. There was only enough pure oil left after they gained the temple back (the enemies had fouled the oil) for the candle to burn for one more day, and a journey to collect more oil would take eight days. The people sadly resigned to letting the candle burn out until more oil could come. However, when more oil did come eight days later, the people were amazed to find the candle still burning, despite that fact that the oil had run out. This gave them new hope, and they knew that God was still with them.
ReplyDeleteStill, I think you guys are doing a great job with this!
~Prerna