For me it's Christmas, but for some of the characters in my second novel, it would be Hanukkah. My main character in THE VASE is a Palestinian Muslim, but many of the other characters are Israelis, and Hanukkah is when those of the Jewish faith celebrate the defeat of Antiochus III of Syria who took over Judea in about 200 BCE.
As I understand it, the Temple in Jerusalem was to be purified by burning oil for eight days. But when they only had enough oil for one day, they lit it anyway, and it lasted eight days.
Hey, I'm no religious scholar of any sort, but I can read Wikipedia as well as the best of them.
But I did more in my research for THE VASE, than simply refer to Wikipedia. I researched a ton of information on Nazareth, and the region in which Israel is located. I researched the Palestinians, and the many factions that vie for control of their destiny. It's a complicated setting, and I don't pretend to be an expert on it. But I researched enough to write a story about a vase-maker.
I do claim to know a lot about ceramics, and it is that on which I focused my story. It's about a simple ceramicist who is caught up in the conflict, even though he doesn't want any part of it. And the story is mostly about a simple vase. Well, it's not so simple, really. It's quite a special vase. I think you'll be able to read why very soon.
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