2/19/2023 0 Comments Rekindling the sacred fireThe ceremonial procession of revelers carrying ivy during the Brumalia (2 Maccabees 6:7) compares with the description of celebrants parading with lulavim during the celebration of the first Ḥanukkah in 2 Maccabees 10:6-7. (The name of the festival is derived from the Latin bruma, meaning “shortest day.”) The festival was known for its wine mixing and revelry. The winter solstice concluded the month-long Greek/Roman festival of the Brumalia celebrating Saturn/Cronus, Ceres/Demeter, and Bacchus. The 25th of Kislev in the early Jewish calendar may have coincided with the winter solstice and the climax of the Saturnalia in the Roman calendar. 2 Maccabees 6:7 describes part of a series of defilements including the Temple’s consecration to Zeus and a festival to Bacchus. ![]() ![]() ![]() The selections are organized according to these four themes (and not according to the order of the source materials appearance in the works in which they appear).ĭesecration & Rededication: According to 1 Maccabees (1:59, 4:52-54), the 25th day of Kislev was significant as the day upon which the Temple altar was desecrated, and thus the date chosen for the altar’s resanctification. The following are selections from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and Pesiqta Rabbati which inform the story of Ḥanukkah: the desecration and re-dedication of the Temple (especially as it relates to Sukkot and the Greco-Roman Brumalia), divine intervention in the Maccabean Revolt, and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire.
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