PURIM – Feast in Israel

Riihele in her Purim outfit – A drawing by Esther (6 yrs).

The writing on the bottom right is her handwritten name, Esther, in Hebrew blockletters that she wrote herself. Her writing is very beautifully and evenly done, though she was not yet in the big school at the time. While doing it Esther was giving me a running commentary on what she was doing and why she was doing the things on her picture of me. She would say things like :

” You need to wear your jewellery,
so I am putting the bracelets
and
the necklace for you here.”
As daily I would usually only wear my earrings and no other jewellery. Esther said at the time that she really liked the flowers on the top of my hat in the drawing. I did and still do, too. It most certainly gave me the edge in outfits and getups in the costumes of Purim.

Esther is the heroine of the Purim. The stunningly beautiful Jewish girl who became the Queen of Persia in the ancient times. And I find it quite apt that my little friend is her namesake, and also very beautiful. The Purim of old was celebrated after the reversal of the degree that carried in it the extreme threat of the total annihilation and the very existence of all the Jewish People wherever they lived at that super power of the ancient world. Here is the link to the Book of Esther.

Purim is the feast that is celebrated in Israel starting tonight until the sunset two days later. Every child just loves the Purim because they can get dressed in the costumes of their choice and walk around in it for days! Years ago when I was in the kibbutzim, only the children got into the full regalia of costumes, but these days it is nearly all the population that gets into a festive gear. Purim Fun Site with games and things and here is the movie based on the Book of Esther, which was filmed entirely in Rajasthan, India in 2006.

We are almost there yet again with all these modern Hamans in our time…

Tis for now – ’til next time, Riihele xx.

PS.
I read some time ago a book on a more recent Queen of Persia, Soraya Esfandiary – it was a most intriguing reading as well; in so many ways also, so very sad. I highly recommend it to all and sundry to read it. More information on Soraya is in this link.