Hanukkah celebrations have changed dramatically—but the same is true of Christmas

Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. Articles and op-eds in newspapers remind readers of that fact every year, 哀叹犹太人的灯节几乎成了对基督教节日的模仿.

These pieces exist for a reason. Hanukkah is a minor festival in the Jewish liturgical year, whose major holidays come in the fall and spring—the High Holidays and Passover, respectively. Because of its proximity to Christmas, however, Hanukkah has been culturally elevated into a major celebration.

美国的商店和学校通过在圣诞树旁边放置烛台或包括 dreidel song 在“节日音乐会”中与圣诞老人，鲁道夫或耶稣一起. Even Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement他的公共烛台灯看起来非常像公共圣诞树灯.

Store windows, 医生办公室和大学食堂并排摆放着圣诞树和烛台, though the latter is a ritual object, not merely a decoration. A menorah, or “hanukkiah,” is lit in a specific way, on specific days, with accompanying prayers—more akin to a Christian Advent wreath than to the holly decking the halls.

Much of my Jewish studies and gender research focuses on interfaith families, for whom these issues can be especially tricky. 我同情犹太裔美国人，他们担心光明节与圣诞节过于相似，但这两个节日的历史比这些比较所表现出来的要复杂得多.

Ancient revolt

There’s a deep irony, of course, 将光明节视为同化的主要例子:节日本身庆祝反对同化的胜利.

In 168 B.C.E.年，塞琉古帝国国王安条克四世·埃皮法尼派遣军队征服耶路撒冷. He outlawed Jewish holidays, Shabbat observance and practices such as circumcision. 他的军队在犹太神庙里为希腊诸神设立了祭坛，把它献给宙斯.

The Maccabees, a Jewish resistance movement led by a priestly family, 反对安条克和被征服的希腊文化同化的犹太人. Hanukkah celebrates the rebels’ victory over the Seleucid army.

In the temple, the Jews kept an eternal flame burning—as synagogues do today. 然而，当马加比人夺回圣殿时，那里的油只够维持一天. 神奇的是，报道说这种情况持续了一周:足够的时间注入更多的石油.

Traditional holiday celebrations, therefore, 包括连续八天每晚点亮烛台和吃东西 cooked in oil. Spinning dreidel games are also traditional, as are songs like “Maoz Tzur.”

“Hanukkah bushes” topped with a Star of David, extravagant presents, community menorah lightings in the park, blue and white lights on houses and Hanukkah Advent calendars? 不是传统的，如果“传统”是指已经发生了几百年的事情.

Carols and carousing

对美国基督教占多数的文化的同化在光明节的现代转型中发挥了作用. That said, the story of how Hanukkah came to have the commercial, kids-and-gifts focus that it has in the U.S. today is a bit more complicated.

当人们担心光明节只是犹太人对圣诞礼物季节的适应时, 我想他们是在想象圣诞节本身一直就像今天大多数美国人所知道的那样——有礼物, the tree and the family togetherness. But, in fact, both contemporary Christmas and contemporary Hanukkah grew up together in response to the Industrial Revolution.

在工业革命之前，欧洲和北美都是以农业为主的社会. When the harvest was completed, 整个降临节的季节都笼罩着一种狂欢的气氛——街上有唱圣诞颂歌的人，也有一定数量的醉酒狂欢. For the more wealthy, it was a season of parties and balls. Sometimes, there would be class-based conflict就像破坏公物或其他犯罪一样——发生在富裕的派对参与者和工人阶级的街头派对之间.

The highlight of the season was New Year’s rather than Christmas. Gifts, if any, were small and usually handmade. 富人给仆人和商人发年终奖金. All in all, the season was as much about friends as family, and celebrated in public as much or more than in private.

由于种种原因，19世纪早期的社会活动家们希望把圣诞节变成一种节日 the domestic celebration of consumption that we have today. 从季节性的农场工作到24小时的工厂工作的转变使得晚上的狂欢变得困难, 例如，宿醉的员工都不是好员工，把庆祝活动安排在一天就能解决这个问题. Meanwhile, 宗教人士试图强调圣诞节是基督徒家庭对基督的庆祝.

But more to the point, 工业革命创造了一个巨大的市场，相对便宜的商品需要一个市场. Christmas provided an abundant market. And so did Hanukkah.

New needs, new traditions

犹太人收到的礼物和节日食品广告和他们的基督徒邻居一样, and it was hard to resist the pull of the celebratory season. However, the late American studies scholar Dianne Ashton’s book “Hanukkah in America: A History表明光明节之所以没有演变成现在的形式，仅仅是因为美国犹太人为了攀比，在某种宗教版本中模仿圣诞节.

Hanukkah, which is celebrated mostly in the home, 给了犹太妇女一个发光的地方——就像家庭圣诞节给了基督教妇女这样的机会一样. It allowed Jews to focus on the family bonds, which often felt fragile and precious in the shadow of immigration and relatives left behind.

And focusing on children, 比如让他们点蜡烛——一项传统上由成年男性完成的工作——在一个犹太人感觉像是一种选择的时代和地点，提供了一种与下一代接触的方式.

In America, Jews were full citizens, 摆脱了以前在欧洲许多地方使他们的社区孤立的法律. 这种自由也使每个人更容易选择与犹太社区的接触程度, if at all. 在美国，你可以放弃犹太教而不改信基督教and many Jews did. Hanukkah was a fun way to build attachments to the holiday.

American Jews adapted Hanukkah to their own needs, 强调宗教在新环境下的作用. 当然，这可以看作是同化，但这也是为了生存而适应. 加入“假日季”确实减轻了作为局外人的感觉, and a minority, at the holidays. 但它也创造了一种新的方式让犹太教进入一个新的时空.

Samira Mehta is director of the CU Boulder Program in Jewish Studies.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.