The Festival of Dedication was known also as Hanukkah, or “Tabernacles of the month of Kislev” (2 Macc 1.9). This month was approximately equivalent to December. The festival celebrated the rededication of the Temple in 164 B.C., after the Syrians had profaned it for three years (Macc 4.54). It began on the 25th day of the month and lasted for eight days, and it was a time of great happiness for the Jews. For Festival a term meaning “feast” may be used, but the focus of meaning should not be upon eating, but upon the joy that accompanied the celebration. It may be possible to translate the Festival of the Dedication … was being celebrated in a combined expression meaning “celebrate the time for remembering the dedication of the Temple.”

Winter in Jerusalem can be cold, and this fact perhaps explains why Jesus was walking in Solomon’s porch in the Temple (verse 23). In some languages it is better to employ such a term as “a cold time” or “a cold season,” rather than attempt to define winter in terms of a particular period of the year. If one must use a term for winter which depends upon the annual calendar, it may be necessary, especially in the tropics or in the southern hemisphere, to provide a marginal note explaining that at this time of the year the weather was cold.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .