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On the anniversary of the day on which the temple had been profaned by the foreigners, that is, the twenty-fifth of the same month Kislev, the purification of the temple took place. The Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths, remembering how, a little while before, they had spent the feast of Booths living like wild animals in the mountains and in caves. Carrying rods entwined with leaves,[a] beautiful branches and palms, they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had successfully brought about the purification of his own place. By public decree and vote they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year.

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Footnotes

  1. 10:7 Rods entwined with leaves: the wreathed wands (thyrsoi) carried in processions honoring Dionysus (6:7) were apparently not regarded as distinctively pagan.