Hanukkah literally means dedication or consecration and in the context of the events around the holiday, it really means rededication. When American Jews talk about Hanukkah – especially with children – the rededication aspect of the holiday almost gets lost in the pediatric version of the story (and holidays in general) we share with our children: The brave Jews called the Maccabees fought off some mean Assyrians (whatever they were) who were trying to force Jews to pray to idols; and after taking back the Temple, there wasn't enough oil to keep the light over the ark lit for more than a day – but the one jug of oil lasted eight. Hanukkah miracle! Now spin the dreidel and start frying potatoes (neither of which has any direct connection to the time period, location or story being commemorated).
But the more adult version of Hanukkah has people doing some terrible things to each other and some interesting politics. The Maccabees could be called orthodox radicals by some standards. But that for another day…. The key thing is that Hanukkah was about reclaiming not just a temple in the modern sense of the word, but THE Temple from things like the erection of idols and the smearing of pigs' blood. It was taking back what was sacred and rededicating the Temple to holiness – rekindling the menorah and the ner tamid and bringing light back to where darkness once prevailed.
Today we went to Ayutthaya, the Thai capitol from 1314 to 1767 and today a mostly suburban town on the extended periphery of Bangkok. When you pass the fairly generic looking modern town and move toward the river, there stand the ruins of the palace and innumerable gorgeous, artful temples and stupas that were once the great royal capitol. While most are concentrated into a historical park modern visitors can wander and appreciate, a handful of stupas remain scattered into the modern town and were built around – making for the oddest sights of ancient holiness bursting through major intersections, front yards and parking lots.
How did the sun set on the great King of Siam's renowned capitol? A Burmese invasion from the North and West led to some terrible initial losses in what ended up a short-lived war of only a few months with the Siamese winning. But like several modern wars including the Vietnam War, Boer War and Yom Kippur War, the victors were also the losers. The Second Burmese-Siamese War fractured the Siamese political structure and not only ended the Ban Phlu Luang Dynasty, but ended the Ayutthaya Kingdom with a new unrelated general-turned-king establishing a new capitol at Thonburi – across the Chao Praya River from Bangkok and today's Grand Palace. From there, it was less than a generation before the advent of the current Chakri dynasty who eventually moved the Siamese capitol across the river to Bangkok.
"Daddy, I don't like this!" Sennen erupted. "Everything here is destroyed! Why would someone destroy everything?!"
Why indeed. The Burmese wanted to seal the victory of their initial invasion with something that would stand testament to their (ultimately short-lived) power: they beheaded every buddha in Ayutthaya and destroyed as. much as they could of the holy sites and structures.
"They were mean people! Why would people be so mean to destroy someone's temples?! They were very mean! I don't like war! War is bad and they should not have done that. They were mean people!" Sennen said with true anger and simmering frustration as we walked through the ground where so many look at the beauty remaining of the once great royal grounds. He couldn't get past the hateful acts of desecration and violence – the beheaded buddhas and the once glorious temples brought down. These were not political acts – they were acts of hatred. And without being able to fully articulate it, his five-year-old mind understood the nature of the crime committed on and testified to by those grounds.
However, there is one temple in the historical park that is not like the others: Wat Phanan Choeng. From the outside, it looks new it's so white or that it could be part of the Grand Palace complex, it stands so regally. What is this temple doing amongst the ruins? Inside sits a giant, stone, 19 meter high sitting buddha statue called Luang Pho Tho. And despite the damage inflicted on him by the Burmese, many of his parts remained. The dedicated faithful on more than one occasion raised funds and performed skilled work to restore and re-restore this stone buddha, eventually covering him in gold. And then, they built the temple around him.
They rededicated that which was desecrated. They made their buddha holy again. At Ayutthaya, the Thai people had their Hanukkah.
This comforts me for two reasons.
First, it helps to know that in a world that seems filled with so much hatred right now, that hatred has always been – not just throughout time as the Hanukkah story reminds us, but throughout the world, even in a place as culturally disconnected from the Middle East as Thailand. Hatred has come to everyone's doorstep time and again – and it can be defeated.
Secondly, that Sennen knew what he witnessed. No one told him what to think of it or how to feel. He did that all on his own. And that's Good.
Of course, Ailyn witnessed the whole thing and absorbed his feelings, alternating between sadness and indignation yelling, "War is bad! They were mean people! They should not have war!"
And that's great too.
