Purim

We are now in the Hebrew month of Adar and this coming weekend Jewish people worldwide will celebrate the festival of Purim. Purim, which literally means "lots", is a holiday commemorating the rescue of Jews living in the ancient Persian Empire from certain destruction at the hands of Haman, an evil nobleman.
There are many wonderful traditions associated with the holiday. One, my own kids favourite, involves the distribution of a food basket or platter of ready to eat food and drink to neighbours, friends and local charities, to ensure that everyone has enough food for a Purim feast later in the day. During the festival, and in fact throughout the whole month, many kids wear colourful dressing-up costumes and masks whilst parading through the streets and I have seen a few little clowns, like the ones on my cards, as well as ninjas, fairies and knights, on the way to school this morning!
After hearing a reading of the Megillat Esther, the Biblical Book of Esther, and delivering the Mishloach Manot (food baskets), the Purim holiday ends with a special dinner called the Seudat Purim which can go on well into the night. While not considered a major Jewish holiday, Purim is still viewed as a day of rejoicing and remembrance of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai's courageous acts against Haman.Etsy Chai, the Jewish community team which promotes Jewish and non-Jewish artists handmade Judaica on Etsy, has been running several pieces all about Purim on their blog. Recently one such article was illustrated with a photo of my clown cards and included a short anecdote of mine about the food baskets I make up. Once again it was exciting to see my work there (above).
Chag Purim Sameach everyone - Happy Purim!