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1 Maccabees gives no reason for Hanukkah's eight-day duration, contrasting with 2 Maccabees which explicitly says the celebration was an extension of the festival of booths because during Sukkot the fighters had been hiding in caves.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Maccabees 4:56
Deuterocanon
54 At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. 55 All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. 56 So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering. 57 They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors. 58 There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed. 59 Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.
2 Maccabees 10:6
Deuterocanon
5 It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Chislev. 6 They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the festival of booths, remembering how not long before, during the festival of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. 7 Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. 8 They decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year.
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Notes and References
"... First Maccabees speaks of the purification and dedication of the Temple ... whereas 2 Maccabees only speaks of a purification of the sanctuary ... First Maccabees summarizes the activities of Judas and his brothers as a cleansing and rededication of the Temple ..."
Duggan, Michael W.
"Hanukkah in 1 and 2 Maccabees: An Intertextual Reading" in Corley, Jeremy, and Geoffrey David Miller (eds.) Intertextual Explorations in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature
(p. 185) De Gruyter, 2019
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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