Purim And Hanukkah In Custom And Tradition - Feast Of Lots - Feast Of Lights - Taschenbuch

IN CUSTOM AND TRADITION THEODOR H. GASTER Books in the GREAT RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS Series 4000 YEARS OF CHRISTMAS Earl W. Count PASSOVER ITS HISTORY AND TRADITIONS Theodor H. Caster WE GATHER TOGETHER THE STORY OF THANKSGIVING and Adelin Linton EASTER ITS STORY AND MEANING Alan W. Watts HALLOWEEN THROUGH TWENTY CENTURIES Ratyh and Adelin Linton PURIM AND HANUKKAH IN CUSTOM AND TRADITION Tkeodor H, Caster For CORINNA MICHAL on her first Purim CONTENTS Purim Foreword 1 What is Purim 3 2 How Did Purim Begin 6 3 Through the Labyrinth 1 2, 4 The Megillah 19 5 The Story of Vashti 2,2, 6 The Story of Esther 2,7 7 Purim Legends 39 8 Purim in the Synagogue 49 9 Hamantashen 57 10 Masquerade and Mummery 59 1 1 Thrones and Gallows 66 12 Purim Plays 68 13 Purim and Carnival 73 14 The Sabbath of Remembrance 79 CONTENTS 1 The Meaning of Hanukkah 85 2 Jew and Greek 88 3 The First Hanukkah 100 4 The Hanukkah Lights 106 5 Light on the Lights 1 1 1 6 MaozZur 115 BiHiography 121 Index 129 IL LU STRATIONS Purim facing page 1 Scroll of Esther 40 2 Hainan in Disgrace 40 3 Purim Ceremonies in the Synagogue at Amsterdam 40 4 Esther Sends a Message to Mordecai 41 5 Purim Jesters 48 6 Hainan on the Gallows 49 7 Purim Players 49 8 The King of the Bean 64 9 The Abbot of Misrule 65 ILLUSTRATIONS facing page 10 Hanukkah Lamp 96 from Salomon Collection, London 1 1 Coin of Antiochtis IV Epiphanes 96 1 2 Map Palestine in the Maccabean Period 97 1 3 Judah the Maccabee 1 1 2 1 4 Judah the Maccabee and Gideon 1 1 2 15 Silver Hanukkah Lamp from Dresden 113 1 6 Bronze Hanukkah Lamp 1 1 3 from the Synagogue at Cleve, Germany 1 7 Bronze Hanukkah Lamp 1 1 3 from Nationalmuseum, Munkli FOREWORD IT is difficult for any man ofmiddle age to recall exactly all the events of his childhood and adolescence or to trace with accuracy the complete course of his mental and spiritual development. Memory plays him false, and is eked out, as often as not, by pious inven tions which he takes for fact what was once a sharp outline becomes a mere blur. All he knows for certain is that he has been the subject of many and varied in fluences and experiences and that these, together with his inherited traditions, have made him what he is. What is true of individuals is equally true of popular customs and institutions, and especially of festivals. For a festival is essentially an expression of the folk mind and spirit, and is therefore equally subject to con tinuous growth and change. Every generation recasts it in its own pattern, according to its own circumstances and situation and every generation reads into it a significance and emphasis born of its own particular xm