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PURIM

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 662 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PURIM , a Jewish festival held on the 14th and 15th of Adar, the last See also:

month of the Jewish See also:calendar. According to Jewish tradition it is held in celebration of the deliverance of the See also:Jews from the See also:massacre plotted against them by their enemy Haman in the See also:time of See also:Artaxerxes, who fixed upon the former date by casting "lots" (=See also:Hebrew See also:loan-word Purim). It is preceded by a fast on the 13th See also:day of Adar, known as the Fast of See also:Esther, based upon Esther iv. 16. Purim is the See also:carnival of the Jewish See also:year. See also:Friends See also:exchange gifts, and thus occasion is taken to relieve the necessities of the poor in the most considerate manner under the See also:guise of gifts. The See also:children masquerade, and their parents are enjoined to drink See also:wine until they cannot distinguish between blessing Mordecai and cursing Haman. The Megillah or See also:Roll of Esther is read both at See also:home and in the See also:synagogue, and wherever, during the See also:reading, the name of Haman is mentioned, it is accompanied with tramping the feet. In former times Haman was burnt in effigy, holding on to a See also:ring and swinging from one See also:side of the See also:fire . to the other (see L. Ginzberg, Geonica, 1909, pp. 1, 419; See also:Davidson, See also:Parody, pp. 21-22).

This See also:

custom, which is still observed among the Jews of See also:Caucasia (Tchorni, Sepher ha-Masaoth, pp. 191-192), is very See also:ancient, as it is mentioned in the See also:Talmud (Sanhedrin 64). From the 17th See also:century onward Purim plays were performed mostly by the children, who improvised a dramatic version of the See also:story of Esther. This See also:grew to be the characteristic folk-See also:drama of the See also:ghetto, and has not died out in eastern See also:Europe to the See also:present day. Much ingenuity has been spent upon the name and origin of the feast. As regards the name, we may dismiss at once the suggestions of J. Fuerst (Kanon See also:des See also:Alten Testaments) that it is derived from the See also:Persian bahar, " See also:spring," and of See also:Hitzig (Geschichte Israels), who derives it from the See also:modern Arabic Phur, " the New Year." These conjectures were made in the pre-scientific era of See also:philology Scarcely more is to be said in favour of the See also:suggestion made by on See also:Hammer; but better known in connexion with the name of See also:Lagarde, who connects the name Purim with the old Zoroastrian festival of the dead, entitled Farwardigan. Lagarde, who is followed by See also:Renan, connects this See also:form with the LXX. variant of the Hebrew (¢poepat) ; but there is absolutely nothing about Purim which suggests any relation with a festival of the dead. See also:Graetz's suggestion (Monats. See also:Jud. See also:xxxv. 10 seq.) that it is derived from the Hebrew purah, meaning wine-See also:press (Is. lxiii. 3), obviously fails to connect a spring festival of joyousness with the autumn See also:vine See also:harvest.

Zimmern (ZATW xl. "157 seq.) connects Purim with the puchru or See also:

assembly of the gods, which forms See also:part of the Babylonian New Year festival Zagmuku, but the inserted guttural is against the See also:identification. The most plausible See also:etymology connects the name with the See also:Assyrian puru, either in the sense of " turn " of See also:office at the beginning of the New Year or in that of " pebble " used for votes or lots. as with the See also:Greek 1/4os. It is a curious coincidence, to say the least, that Dieulafoy found among the ruins of the Memnonium at See also:Susa (the ancient Shushan, given as the See also:scene of the events narrated in the See also:Book of Esther) a quadrangular See also:prism bearing different See also:numbers on its four faces. This etymological connexion, suggested by See also:Jensen (Kosmologie, 84), brings the festival of Purim into See also:close relation with the Babylonian New Year festival known as Zagmuku, in which one of the most prominent ceremonials was the celebration of the assembly of the gods under the See also:presidency of See also:Marduk (Merodach) for the purpose of determining the fates of the New Year. Meissner (ZDMG, i. 296 seq.) and others have suggested that the See also:drunkenness The date at which the feast of Purim was first adopted by the Jews from their Persian neighbours would be definitely deter-See also:mined if we knew the date of the Book of Esther. The festival is first mentioned in 2 Macc. xv. 36, and from that time onwards has formed one of the most popular festivals of the Jewish calendar. It became customary to See also:burn an effigy of Haman at the conclusion of the feast, and this was regarded as in some ways an attack on See also:Christianity and was therefore forbidden by the Theodesian See also:code, XVI. viii. 18. This See also:prohibition may have been due to the fact mentioned by See also:Socrates (Hilt. See also:eccles. vii.) that, in 416 A.D., the Jews of Inmester, a See also:town in See also:Syria, See also:ill-treated a See also:Christian See also:child during some Purim pranks and caused his See also:death.

It has even been suggested that this gave rise to the myth of the See also:

blood See also:accusation in which Jews are alleged to See also:sacrifice a Christian child at See also:Passover; but this is unlikely, since it has never been suggested that this See also:crime was committed in connexion with Purim. But Jewish See also:sources of the loth century See also:state that the custom of burning an effigy of Haman was still kept up at that time (L. Ginzberg, Geonica, ii.), and this is confirmed by Albiruni (See also:Chronology, tr. Sachau, 273) and Makrizi, and indeed the custom was carried on down to the present century by Jewish children, who treated Haman as a sort of See also:Guy See also:Fawkes. Frazer suggests (loc. cit. 172) that this is a survival of the burning of the See also:man-See also:god, like See also:Hercules or Sandan, who the See also:Middle Ages; Lagarde, Purim, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der again represented the old spirit of vegetation which was dying away in spring to revive with the new vegetation. The earliest mention, however, of this burning of Haman in effigy cannot be traced back earlier than the Talmud in the 5th century. In connexion with Purim many See also:quaint customs were introduced by the Jews of later times. All means are adapted to increase the hilarity of the two days, which are filled with feasting, dancing, singing and making merry generally. In See also:Germany it was even customary for men to See also:dress up as See also:women, and women as men, against the command of Deut. xxii. 5. In See also:Frankfort the women were allowed to open their lattice windows in the synagogue in See also:honour of the deliverance brought about by Esther.

Execration of Haman, as the typical persecutor of the Jews, took various forms. In Germany wooden mallets were used in the synagogue to See also:

beat the benches when Haman's name was read out from the See also:scroll of Esther, and during the festivities these mallets were sometimes used on the heads of the bystanders. Cakes were made of a certain shape to be eaten by the children, which were called, in Germany, 'Hamantaschen (Haman-pockets) and Hamanohren (Haman-ears), and in See also:Italy, Orecchie d'Aman. In Italy a puppet representing Haman was set up on high amidst shouts of vengeance and blowing of trumpets. In See also:Caucasus the women made a wooden, See also:block to represent Haman, which, on being discovered by the men on their return to the synagogue, was thrown into the fire. Besides gifts to friends, parents made Purim gifts to their children, especially in the form of Purim cakes. To preside over these festivities it was customary to have a See also:master of the ceremonies, who was called See also:king in See also:Provence, somewhat after the manner of the Feast of See also:Fools. In later days the same See also:function was performed by the Purim See also:Rabbi, who often indulged in parodies of the See also:ritual. With Purim is connected the only trace of a true folk-drama among Jews. The first See also:Spanish drama written by Jews was entitled " Esther," by See also:Solomon Usque and Lazaro Gratiano, published in 1567; and there is another entitled " Comedia famosa de Aman y Mordechay," produced anonymously in See also:Leiden in 1699. Among the See also:German Jews Purim-Spiele were frequent and can be traced back to the 16th century, where there is reference to their being regularly performed at Tannhausen. The earliest one of these printed was entitled " Ahaswerosh-Spiel," appeared at Frankfort in 1708, and was reprinted by Schudt in Juedische See also:Merck-Wuerdigkeiten, ii.

314 seq. These were followed by a large number of similar reproductions, none of any See also:

great merit, but often showing ingenuity in parodying more serious portions of the Jewish ritual (Davidson, Parody, pp. 27, 50, 199-203). Besides the See also:general festival of Purim, various communities of Jews have instituted See also:special See also:local Purims to commemorate occasions when they have been saved from disaster. Thus the Jews of See also:Cairo celebrated Purim on the 28th of Adar in memory of their being miraculously saved from the persecution of Ahmed See also:Pasha in 1524. The Jews of Frankfort celebrate their special Purim on the loth of Adar because of their deliverance from persecution by Fettmilch in 1616. The Jews of See also:Algiers similarly celebrated the repulse of the See also:emperor See also:Charles V. in 1541, by which they escaped coming once more into the yoke of the Spaniards. Similar occasions for rejoicing were introduced by individuals into their families to celebrate their See also:escape from danger. Thus See also:Abraham See also:Danzig celebrated in this manner his escape from the results of an See also:explosion of a See also:powder See also:magazine at Wilna in 1804. Rabbi See also:Enoch Altschul of See also:Prague recorded his own escape on the 22nd of Tebet 1623 in a special roll or megillah, which was to be read by his See also:family on that date with rejoicing similar to the general Purim. See also:David Brandeis of See also:Jung-See also:Bunzlau in Bohemia was saved from an accusation of poisoning on the loth of Adar 1731, and instituted a similar family Purim celebration in consequence. See Biblical Dictionaries of See also:Hastings and See also:Cheyne, see.

; See also:

Jew. Ency., s.v. " Purim "; " Purim Plays," " Purims, Special "; W. Erbt, See also:Die Purimsage (See also:Berlin, 1900) ; Abrahams, Jewish See also:Life in See also:Religion (See also:Gottingen, 1885) ; See also:Steinschneider, Purim and Parodic (Berlin, 1902) ; P. See also:Haupt, Purim (See also:Leipzig, 1906) ; Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature, pp. 21, 27, 30, 135-9 (New See also:York, 19o8). (J.

End of Article: PURIM

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