I've grown to understand the grand story of Israel and the redemption of G_d throughout my time at seminary. Now more than ever, the story captivates me. In that story is the wonderful, compelling account of the re-dedication of the second-temple during the Maccabean revolt. The story captures, at its heart, a commitment and devotion to the Jewish G_d amidst persecution and chaos and His - represented by the light - constant presence amidst his people. Even more significant is the place the Maccabean revolt had to "set the stage" for the Jewish Messiah who, we believe, arrived roughly two centuries later.
Don't get me wrong - Christmas is also extremely profound in the Christian belief (without going into a tyraid of what Christmas is vs. what it has become). I'm not suggesting Hanukkah instead of Christmas...I'm just perplexed that Christians reject Hanukkah altogether in favor of Christmas at some point in history. The "either or" relationship between the two holidays just doesn't make sense to me.
I'm young and single right now, but am seriously considering raising my future possible children in a Christian home that celebrates Hanukkah alongside Christmas. Thoughts, comments, explanations, experiences? Also would love opinions from Messianic Jews/Jews/Christians, if any are here.
tl;dr - What happened so that Christians stopped celebrate the profound story of Hannukah and "exchanged" it for Christmas?
First question - are you Catholic or Protestant? While Catholics consider the book of Maccabees cannonical, Protestans consider it apocrypha.
Second question - why Chanukah? Why not one of the important Holidays such as Yom Kippur, Pesach, or Sukkot? Chanukah is an incredibly minor holiday and doesn't appear in the Torah.
So I'd like to pose a different question: at what point did Christians decide to abandon all/most Jewish practices, transitioning from a heretical Jewish cult to a fully seperate religion and over how long?
Someone mentioned the need for a Jewish voice...so..hi!
Christmas and Hanukkah are in no way equivalent. 1.a They happen to fall at the same time of year, but they are on completely different calendars (Gregorian vs. Hebrew). 1.b The nature of the stories is entirely different. And I'm not really sure why you think Christians would celebrate Hannukkah, unless you think they should a)celebrate ALL Jewish holidays, or b)....unless you believe that both holidays are nothing more than 'light in darkness' affairs (which they are, but not entirely according to the respective traditions). And in that case, may I recommend a Yule log and some dancing around a solstice bonfire?
Hanukkah is NOT a major holiday, and not particularly profound. In fact, it is possibly the LEAST important holiday in the Jewish calendar. There are long rabbinic conversations about whether it should be celebrated at all, and once it was determined that it should be commemorated (as DISTINCT from celebrated) there was even more discussion about the limits that should be imposed in order to distinguish it from genuine holy days (Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashannah, Pesach, Shavuot, Tish B'Av, Sukkot, and Shabbat, to name just a few).
Just to say: appropriating another Jewish holiday in the name of a figure who is irrelevant (at best) to the Jewish tradition? (see your comment below about Maccabeas foreshadowing Jesus).
Yeah, I'd have problem with that. and I think a lot of other Jews would too.
Just a reminder here: /r/askhistorians is a place for historical discussion, not theological disputation and while questions about why and how early Christianity and Judaism split and how Christian attitudes towards Second Temple and early Rabbinic Jewish practice developed are welcomed and encouraged here, this is not the subreddit for debates over what practices are appropriate for present-day Christians(and I will add a small note that it's a little uncomfortable to see these discussions happen without Jewish voices about where the line between appreciation and appropriation is crossed).
Because in the early stages of Christianity, the sect started to separate itself from Judaism (albeit paradoxically). I don't have the time for a hugely elaborate answer right now, am at work.
The "Dialogue with Trypho" was written in the mid 2nd century CE and displays a lot of anti-jewish sentiment. It stresses the "new covenant" and veering away from the old Jewish practices, as they saw some of them as obsolete. It's essentially a battle for legitimacy in a pamphlet. In order to achieve that and create themselves as distinct, Christians needed to shift away from Jewish traditions and cast it as "wrong" (using that term loosely).
Now this was a slow change and was challenged by several pagan contemporaries. Emperor Julian was known for pointing out the hypocrisy. You can look at other factors such as the Jewish diaspora and the Romanization of Christianity for the change. Many of the new converts didn't want to deal with the old Jewish practices.
Also, take into account that there were maaany other Christian groups out there and most of them differed from each other by some degree. Christianity wasn't monolithic from day one.
I'm Catholic, so I can't speak for all Christans, but here's my (our?) Perspective. Aside from /u/delosas 's points about the importance of the holiday, Paul's Collosians II, lines 15 and 16, may shed some light.
[16] Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. [17] These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
The rest of Collosians II centers on a Christian not needing to follow other Jewish laws and traditions. There are other scriptures and teachings along the same lines of "You don't need to be Jewish to follow Christ." The Catholic church has rejected Marcionism, which felt Christianity needed to be disconnected from the Jewish tradition, though not the Old Covenant. According to the Catechism:
121 The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.
123 Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).
So while the Catholic feels the Old Testament is sacred, true, and still binding, celebration of it's holidays and traditions (being Jewish) isn't necessary to being Christian. I imagine this meant Jewish holidays, including Chanukah, simply weren't celebrated (or even unknown to Christians from a non-Jewish heritage).