Page 47 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

A square with a stick in one side is a very good description of a dreidel. Is it mere coincidence that
Saturnalia was “marked by gambling and dice-playing,” and the dreidel has become an inseparable
part of the Hanukkah observance today?

A final association between Hanukkah and Saturnalia that I will mention to close this chapter, is the
tradition of cooking oily foods, such as latkes (potato pancakes) during Hanukkah.

Latkes

The statue of Saturn in its temple in Rome has been described by ancient historians as being hollow
and constructed of wood. Saturn is depicted as a veiled figure holding a scythe. The hollow statue
was filled with oil. It is reported that it was filled anew every year on the anniversary of the
dedication of Saturn’s temple. This is at the time of the Saturnalia festival, and corresponds to the
season of Hanukkah.

One modern explanation for the emphasis on oily foods during Hanukkah points back to the miracle
of the oil recorded in the Talmud. As has been shown, however, this story of the temple menorah
burning for eight days on a single day’s worth of oil is a fabrication of the rabbis. It was not reported
in the much older accounts in I and II Maccabees and in Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews. A more
plausible explanation for the emphasis on oil during Hanukkah is that the Jews practiced syncretism
as they adopted the rites and symbols of the worship of Saturn. Saturn from antiquity has had an
association with oil as is observed in the worship of Shani, which was mentioned earlier as a Hindu
equivalent of Saturn. Shani was “one of the... nine primary celestial beings in Hindu astrology...
Shani is embodied in the planet Saturn and is the Lord of Saturday” [Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shani]