Cana
In the Christian New Testament, the Gospel of John refers a number of times to a town called Cana of Galilee.
The marriage at Cana
Among Christians and other students of the New Testament, Cana is best known as the place where, according to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus performed his tenth miracle (scholars would note that it was His first miracle in Cana, acknowledging that His disciples were present at the feast, but with him in Capernaum where Mark records miracles after the temptation; Mark 1:25,31,34.), the turning of a large quantity of water into wine at a wedding feast (John 2:1–11) when the wine provided by the bridegroom had run out (see Jars of Cana). None of the synoptic gospels record this event, but in John's gospel it has considerable symbolic importance: it is the first of the seven miraculous "signs" by which Jesus's divine status is attested, and around which the gospel is structured.
The story has had considerable importance in the development of Christian pastoral theology, since the facts that Jesus was invited to a wedding, attended and used his divine power to save the celebrations from disaster, are taken as evidence of his approval for marriage and earthly celebrations, in contrast to the more austere views of Saint Paul as found, for example, in 1 Corinthians 7. It has also been used as an argument against Christian teetotalism. A minority of modern readers have asserted that the wedding was originally Jesus' own (some among them identifying the bride as Mary Magdalene), and that an earlier account has been edited in order to suppress this fact.
In Roman Catholicism, the Wedding at Cana is one of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
Other references to Cana
The other references to Cana are in John 4:46, which mentions Jesus is visiting Cana when he is asked to heal the son of a royal official at Capernaum; and John 21:2, where it is mentioned that the apostle Nathanael (usually identified with the Bartholomew included in the synoptic gospels' lists of apostles) comes from Cana. Cana of Galilee is not mentioned in any other book of the Bible, nor in any other contemporary source.
Locating Cana
There has been much speculation about where Cana might have been. In his Gospel, the author makes no claim to have been at the wedding himself. Some Christians regard the story of the wedding at Cana as having more theological than historical or topographical significance, but most do not. Likewise, some (but not all) modern scholars hold that is the Fourth Gospel was addressed to a group of Jewish Christians, and very possibly a group living in Judea; which makes it very unlikely that the evangelist would have mentioned a place that did not exist.
There are four villages in Galilee which are candidates for historical Cana:
- Kafr Kanna, Israel;
- Kenet-el-Jalil, Israel;
- Ain Kana, Israel; and
- Qana, Lebanon.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, a tradition dating back to the 8th century identifies Cana with the modern Arab town of Kafr Kanna, about 7 km northeast of Nazareth, Israel. However more recent scholars have suggested alternatives, including the ruined village of Kenet-el-Jalil (also known as Khirbet Kana), about 9 km further north, and Ain Kana, which is closer to Nazareth and considered by some to be a better candidate on etymological grounds. The village of Qana, in southern Lebanon, is another candidate for the location. Many Lebanese, Christians and Muslims, believe the village to be the correct site. This is not a matter on which certainty is ever likely to be achieved.
An excellent scholarly discussion on the geographical location of Cana is offered as part of a doctoral dissertation from Dallas Theological Seminary by J. Carl Laney (1977). This discussion includes evidences for all the possible locations, comes to a sound conclusion.
"The evidence, then, clearly favors the identification of Khirbet Kana with Cana of Galilee."
The entire discussion may be found at [1].