A study of the history of every religious system suggests, however, that religion is itself a human creation. Every religious tradition participates in and is shaped by cultural factors, time-bound understandings of the world of nature, and prevailing tribal prejudices.
Nothing illustrates this conclusion better than a look into the origins of both Hanukkah and Christmas and especially at how these religious celebrations were positioned in the calendars of the western world.
Both holidays feature the restoration of light to a darkened world and both reveal that they are the product of people living in the northern hemisphere.
Hanukkah was a late-developing festival, which came into the cycle of Jewish liturgical observances in the second century before the common era. It was designed to mark the time when a military leader named Judas, nicknamed "The Hammer" [or Maccabeas in Hebrew] routed the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes and his army. The Temple in Jerusalem was thus restored to the worship of Yahweh.
To show utter contempt for their Jewish vassal state, the Syrians had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by tearing down the sacred symbols of the Jews and replacing them with pagan symbols. In the Holy of Holies, regarded by the Jews as the very dwelling place of God, the Syrians had placed the head of an unclean pig that the Jews referred to as "the Abomination of Desolation."
The victorious Judas stripped away these offending images and restored the sanctity of the Temple. Then, the tradition states, he lit the eight-branched candelabra called the Menorah to initiate a time of great celebration. These candles burned miraculously to extend the celebration for eight days. In the minds of the Jewish faithful this act not only restored light to darkness, but it also replaced idolatry with true faith.
That was what Hanukkah celebrated.
