Instituted by Judas Machabæus (64 B.C.) to be celebrated yearly in all synagogues the 25th day of the month Casleu and during its octave, in commemoration of the purification of the Temple of Jerusalem, which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes on that day three years previously (1Macabees 4). It was observed with great joy, without mourning or fasting. It was on this feast that the Jews threatened to stone Our Lord (John 10).