Monday, October 22, 2007

Purim


Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the Jewish people escaped slaughter by the Persians. The events are recorded in the book of Esther. To summarize the story, Esther, a Jew, was chosen by the king of Persia to become his queen. One of the king's advisers, Haman, asked the king to kill all the Jews, but Esther managed to convince the king to not listen to Haman. The holiday is usually marked with much joy and celebration. During a Purim service, noisemakers are often used whenever Haman is mentioned in the story. Other traditions are to give gifts to other people, donate to charity, and eat a type of cookie called hamentacschen on Purim.

Information and image from http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday9.htm

1 comment:

claire said...

That's interesting I had never heard of Purim before. What's the actual date that people celebrate on?