2006-10-03 12:29:02 · 13 answers · asked by Kenny C 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
What Christmas and Hannuka (spellings vary) have in common is that both are festival of light cermonies. .. and now in modern times they fall near each other so they are a great excuse to give presents and have a day off.
Many peoples have festival of light cermonies, and the farther north you go, the more important it is to pray that god and the sun have not left us forever!!!
Near the equator, the days and nights tend to be equal. Near the poles, in the summer the days are long, and in the winter the days get shorter and shorter .. what if they go away completely??? So we gotta do something.
The Jews lived near the equator, so its minor. The celts and the germans live near the poles .. so its a big deal.
Christmas is a strange holliday. In all honesty, Christ was probably born in the Spring - thats when the Shepards await the new sheep as described in the NT. However with the idea of of new birth in Christ .. got married to the Northern cyclic notion of rebirth of the world w/ the Festival of Lights
The Chrismas Tree -- an evergreen .. forever green .. is sacrificed .. burnt .. lit up .. on the shortest day of the year .. Dec 25 it used to be .. now 2000 some years later it has moved back to Dec 21/22. To keep a vigil through the long night. BTW.. some of this notion is also seen in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday where a fire rite is done to keep the light of god in the world.
In later years, the notion of St. Nicolas giving gifts mutated into Santa Claus which somehow wanders around in our secular notion.
enjoy
2006-10-03 12:46:49 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not at all.
Christmas (in its current format) was first celebrated in December 25 350, while Hanukkah is celebrated since about 100 BCE.
Hanukkah is about some very specific events that occurred in 167 BCE, and it talks about a Jewish rebellion. It has never been a minor holiday, but it wasn't celebrated so passionately until the Zionist movement saw the Jewish uprising as a model and made Hanukkah more central.
While Christmas suspiciously resembles the Pagan "Yule", Hanukkah bears proudly its own costumes for centuries.
2006-10-04 16:00:52 · answer #2 · answered by yotg 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope. Hannuka is a holiday to celebrate the fact that, while swamping out the Temple after kicking the Persians out, the lamp oil lasted for seven days instead of one so they could clean up the mess. It's like our families had to make up a holiday to keep us from getting jealous of the Christians and their biggie
2006-10-03 19:32:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. It an historical holiday, Hanukkah commemorates the Miracle of the Oil. The Jews rebelled against the Greeks and after they won they wanted to light the eternal flame in the temple but there was only enough oil for one day. the miracle is that the flame burned for 8 days.
Hanukkah, like most Jewish holidays, isn't a holiday of gifts. It's not common to give gifts.
2006-10-04 14:29:42 · answer #4 · answered by Aline 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
unfortunately, it is considered the "jewish chirstmas" becouse of the gift giving. but believe it or not, there are many jews who don't give out gifts!!!!. if anything it would be gelt, or for the kids who use to start their schooling at this time back in the old country books smear with honey so they will asscoate learning as something sweet. the reason for the gift giving is because a lot of jews live in christian countries(ashkenaz jews) didn't want their kids to feel left out started to give gifts, (gelt, presidents). and a lot of jews live in moslem countries (sephardi jews) never even heard of christmas!!! lot alone of giving gifts. so, now here in america, its mostly the non-orthadox who give out the presidents. some in the orthadox ring, but among mediterranean jews (sephardi) don't give out presidents. but we all lit the menorah, play the dreidl and eat mmm, latkes, yummmmmmmmmmm, geting the mood already, well, anyway hope this answers your queison. oh if you go to etheir ou.org or torah.com an dchabad.org and go to the festivals link it will give you a whole histroy on it. p.s we beat the syrian-greeks, NOT the persians. were friends, unlike now.
2006-10-03 23:34:50 · answer #5 · answered by baseballnutfeak 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO. It actually was a minor holiday, but because it occurs near Christmas, it has become more of a celebration with gifts, etc., so Jewish children don't feel left out in a country where Christmas is celebrated.
2006-10-03 19:32:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hanukkah started to celebrate the fact that God made a days worth of oil last seven days. The oil was used to keep the manoah in the temple burning. It took 7 days to prepare the oil.
2006-10-03 19:39:24 · answer #7 · answered by tim 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are two completely separate holidays that have nothing to do with one another, they just happen to be celebrated around the same time of year.
2006-10-03 19:36:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
your a tool! they are celebrated close to eachother in the year but christmas is all about yay Jesus and Jews are not all about the yay Jesus. the two holidays dont share anything in common except the comercial aspect of gift giving.
2006-10-03 19:33:19 · answer #9 · answered by Judy C 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. Two different holidays, but they often occur at about the same time of year.
2006-10-03 19:37:03 · answer #10 · answered by hopflower 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋