Jews borrowed Chanukah from the Christians. What did the Christians borrow?

Question

the tradition of exchanging gifts during Chanukah was borrowed from the Christian tradition of Christmas because the Jewish children were jealous... it's not in the Bible, it's just common knowledge among the Jews

Answer 1

Interesting theory - no chance of backing it with facts?

The Xian faith has a history of adopting/adapting indigenous spirituality - so no surprise that it's just another one aquired along the way.

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Answer 2

The idea of giving gifts on Chanukah was taken stright from Christmas, yes... but the holiday itself is entirely Jewish in origin, and in fact predates Christianity by quite a long time.

Ironically, Chanukah is about overcoming assimilation...

Answer 3

They did? That's news to me.

But in other news, they borrowed pretty much everything: Christmas was a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice, Easter was also a pagan holiday. Sunday was "the day of the sun", another pagan notion. Actually, pretty much everything in the bible was pagan too: virgin birth, Adam & Eve, the flood, the resurrection, the Ark, even the names of Noah's sons are copies, so also Isaac's sacrifice, Solomon's judgement, and Samson's pillar act; its Moses is fashioned after the Syrian Mises; its laws after Hammurabi's code. Its Messiah is derived from the Egyptian Mahdi, Savior, certain verses are verbatim copies of Egyptian scriptures. Jesus and the Egyptian God, Horus have 137 similarities, and those between Christ and Krishna run into the hundreds.

Answer 4

Is not 'Chanukah' based on 1 Macabees 4?

Answer 5

Hanukkah was not borrowed from any other faith.

Jews celebrate Hanukkah because oil for the temple lamps lasted for 8 days when it was only enough to last for one.

This is an ancient Jewish miracle. It does not belong to any other religion except the Christians who acknowledge it as having happened if not celebrating it.

Yours in Christ Jesus, Grace

Answer 6

Christians borrowed math from the Greeks, numerals from the Arabs, the alphabet from the English, and a concept of God from the Jews.

Answer 7

Um, yeah.

Chanukah, like all things in Judaism, is older than xtianity.
It is based on historical events.

Xtianity did not borrow but stole the Torah. They renamed it the 'old testament" and altered, manipulated and otherwise bastardized it.
They turned the mikvah into baptism.
Ammended prophecy after the fact to give themselves 'credibility'.
Decided only ten commandments mattered.
Stole much more from surrounding pagan cultures.


Judaism has been fairly established since 2000 years before xtianity was considered.


Where DID you get your ideas??

Answer 8

Everything else.

The idea of the en-fleshed God born of a virgin was a staple of Greek and Roman mythology.

The ever-present struggle between good and evil came from Zoroastrianism.

Christmas and Easter were pagan holidays emphasizing changing seasons and fertility.

Answer 9

I doubt that you are right about Hanukkah. But Christians have borrowed from lots of places. Not so much the actual holidays, but the date on which they are celebrated (December 25th is probably not Jesus' birthday) and many of the traditions about them (pagans decorated at Yule with holly and mistletoe), and even their names (Easter was originally Oestara, a pagan spring celebration).

Answer 10

I thought Christianity owed more to its Jewish origins than the other way round. Are the Christians having an identity crisis now?