Moed Katan 8 Bones and Marriage

We learn about two major ideas in today's daf.  First, we learn about moving the bones of one's relatives on the Moed.  Second, we learn about marriage on the Moed.  In both situations, the rabbis create halachot that reflect a balance between encouraging joy on the Festivals and encouraging joy for the Festivals themselves during the Moed.

Steinsaltz teaches us in a note that in times of the Mishna, deceased bodies were brought to caves where they decomposed over the course of a year.  After the year passed, relatives would collect the remaining bones and bring them to the family burial plot.  Collecting the bones was considered to be a joyful activity.  This seems strange, but we are told of a number of reasons to feel joy: the maggots have left, the soul is certainly in heaven, the bones are about to be placed properly.  The joy of transporting these bones must be considered against the joy for the Festivals in and of themselves.

The rabbis discuss marriage during the Moed.  Most marriages are forbidden.  The remarriages of people who were previously married to each other is one exception.  The Festivals are joyful times; why not encourage marriages at these times?  The rabbis are concerned that the joy of marriage will overwhelm the joy for the Festivals themselves.  There was also a concern regarding marriage feasts - perhaps people would specifically schedule wedding celebrations during the Moed to save the expense of two feasts.   Thus marriage during the Intermediate Festival Days is discouraged.