The Mishna tells us (Taanis 26b) that on the 15th of Av, unmarried girls would borrow clothes, dance in the vineyard, and invite the unmarried men to choose them for marriage.
The Talmud (Taanis 30b) gives a list of historical reasons that make the 15th of Av a holiday on par with Yom Kippur.
One of the reasons given is that the Jewish people found a way around their vow not to give their daughters to Binyamin (Shoftim 21:1), after the story of the Pilegesh in Givah (Shoftim 19, 20, 21).
Their solution was to have the Benyaminites lie in wait in the vineyards, and when the daughters of Israel would dance in the vineyards, the Benyaminites would take them, without the fathers breaking their vow by giving their daughters to the Binyaminites. (See Shoftim 21:20 and on)
There are several parallels between the two reasons for the holiday. For example, In both cases (the unmarried girls dancing in the vineyards every 15th of Av, and the Binyaminites taking dancing girls in the vineyards):
- The girls are dancing
- They are in vineyards
- Both stories happened where G-d's Temple was located. The Mishnah talks about the daughters of Yerushalaim (Where the Holy Temple was), and the story with the Binyaminites talks about the daughters of Shiloh dancing (Shiloh was where the Mishkan was at the time of the story)
Both of these stories seem very similar. Are there any sources that discuss the connection between the two? Was the story with the Binyaminites the start of the yearly custom? Did the custom predate the story with the Binyaminites?
I'm looking for sources that discuss this.
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