Growing up as a Jew in the U.S., one often gets the feeling that Hanukkah is the shadow (or admiring little brother) of Christmas. Both festivals feature gift-giving and lights. Of course, Hanukkah lights are generally wax candles or oil lamps with wicks, while Christmas lights are electric, but that is a relatively recent shift. Before the 1920s, when home electricity became standard, those celebrating Christmas would use wax candles for tree lights. And even before tree lights became a thing, people would light a large candle on Christmas, specially crafted as a representation of Jesus.
As for Hanukkah, while the earliest sources, I and II Maccabees, do not mention lighting candles as a way of celebrating the holiday, the practice appears in the Mishnah, so it has been going on for at least 1,800 years.
That the dates of Hanukkah and Christmas overlap sometimes would seem, at first, to be merely coincidental. Ostensibly, each festival simply celebrates what occurred on the anniversary of when it occurred: the rededication of the Temple for Hanukkah, and the birth of Jesus for Christmas
But the matter is not so simple.
While Christmas celebrates Jesus’ birth, the earliest accounts of his life do not record his birth on that date. The first text I’m aware of that mentions December 25 as Jesus’ birthday is Hippolytus of Rome’s commentary on Daniel, written c. 202-211 CE. But many scholars consider that passage to be a late interpolation. Either way, the celebration of this date as Christmas began only in the 4th century CE.
Notably, Romans celebrated another major festival, Dies Natalis Sol Invictus (“Birthday of the Unconquered Sun”), on December 22, marking the winter solstice (shortest day and longest night of the year). Leading up to this, they celebrated Saturnalia — Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture — a multi-day celebration during which they lit candles and wax models.
This appears to be one of many examples of how older festivals were Christianized, as with Halloween and Valentine’s Day. Hanukkah is likely a Judaizing version of this same phenomenon, at least the candlelighting part.
Hanukkah was established by the Hasmoneans to celebrate the reconquest of the Temple from the Seleucid Greeks, but the connection to lighting candles is late and artificial. Early references to Hanukkah say nothing about a miracle of oil, and indeed, it does seem to be a strange miracle. In contrast to plagues in Egypt or manna in the wilderness, the oil miracle appears in the Hanukkah story after the Hasmonean forces have retaken the Temple. It is a solution to a small ritual problem, hardly pressing, given that the Temple was not yet ready to be rededicated anyway. One gets the feeling that the account of the miracle is a post facto explanation for a preexisting ritual of lighting candles.
Notably, the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 8a) is aware that this eight-day festival seems somehow connected to the Roman winter festival of Saturnalia. The story it tells is that Hanukkah was first celebrated by Adam, who, in the first year of his life, thought the sun was going out as the days grew shorter. He created the holiday out of a sense of relief after the solstice, when the days started getting longer again. This festival became Hanukkah for Jews and Saturnalia for gentiles.
Festivals are primal activities that express deep human needs, while the story one offers to explain any given festival is secondary. Humans often act instinctively, and only afterward does our conscious mind look for a rational explanation. We have a fear of heights or fast-moving things, so we look up roller coaster accidents and say that is why we will not ride one. We’re afraid of being embarrassed at social gatherings, so we find out who’s going and explain why they aren’t our type of people.
Festivals can work the same way. For example, most cultures have festivals in which those celebrating violate social norms by getting drunk or dressing up, such as Halloween, Purim, and Mardi Gras. Each festival, however, has its own story: the day the souls come out of the graves, the day the Jews defeated their enemies, the last day of meat before Lent (respectively). Saturnalia, Christmas and Hanukkah also share a common theme, but in this case it is seasonal: They are meant to bring joy into the cold, scary, dark winter.
Humans can be adversely affected by the winter. Some people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder and experience symptoms of depression because of insufficient exposure to sunlight. Moreover, humans evolved to fear the dark, and midwinter is the darkest time of year. It is hardly surprising, then, that a ritual celebration during this season would emphasize lights.
From one perspective, Christmas and Hanukkah are two entirely unrelated holidays. But on an experiential level, both holidays are about bringing light to the dark and cold winter.
