Avodah Zarah 2: Preventing Non-Jewish Celebration

A new tractate! A lot of material that is relevant when Jews live among non-Jews -- without delving into idolatry necessarily per se (though it will come up in the tractate, certainly). A new mishnah: For 3 days before the festivals of non-Jews, Jews are not supposed to do certain things that would make the non-Jews happy, lest they express gratitude to their pagan gods as part of the holiday. Which opens the question of whether a Jew could collect money - which might be painful, but also joyous down the road, for being rid of the debt. Plus, the Gemara delves into the spelling of the word that means their "holidays." Plus, there's no polity without a king -- a monarchy. Also, Rome as the most important of the non-Jewish nations (certainly at that time).