Celebrating Purim

We have been celebrating Purim over the last few days. Technically the holiday falls only on one day, on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar, but between a full week of dressing up at school, preparing Mishloach Manot and my eldest son marching with his class in the city parade on Friday, it seems to have lasted quite a few days. And it's been a great few days too! The holiday is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar and for the young man featured on the card below it was even more special because he was going to be celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.

This Bar Mitzvah boy completed 12 hikes all around Israel over the course of the year before his big day and is going on a trek in Nepal very soon. I have shown the freckled young man hiking with his backpack and have added the Nepalese flag and landscape. Above the flag you can see a Megillat Esther (Book of Esther) scroll from which we read the Purim story and, since the Bar Mitzvah boy was celebrating on Purim itself, I have added some triangular-shaped Hamantashen, or Oznei Haman. I have also illustrated a gragger, or ra'ashan (from the Hebrew ra-ash, meaning "noise"), which is used to blot out the name of Haman, the culprit in the Purim story, when it is read out during the public chanting of the Megillah in the synagogue.

Whilst I was creating my Purim themed card, my youngest son was making his own holiday artwork. I thought that his drawing of a clown was so delightful that I decided to scan it and use it to make gift tags. The clown's body is made from Hamantashen and he is holding his own rattle and can of snow spray (one of the less wonderful items popular with the kids on this holiday).
On Purim it is customary to prepare Mishloach Manot (food baskets) and to deliver them to your neighbours, friends and local charities, to ensure that everyone has enough food for a Purim feast later in the day. I baked and baked and baked some more to put together these baskets of cupcakes and other sweet items for our friends, and then tied them all up with my son's beautifully illustrated tag.

Finally, there is one more Purim custom that I would like to mention. It is traditional to dress up in fancy dress and wear masks over the festival and in fact throughout the whole month. There seems to be several reasons given for this custom, the most common being that on Purim we recognize that God saved us in a hidden fashion and we dress up to show that we understand sometimes that God's ways are hidden from us and we need to look further into things to see his presence.
My boys wanted costumes just like all their friends, though my eldest son doesn't like to wear anything that might make him look silly! After some thought I asked him whether he would like to dress up as a football. My suggestion went down well and my paper crafting skills were put to work.
The big day came and my sandwich board footballs were well received. "Mum", my son exclaimed at the end of the day, "There were lots and lots of footballers at school today but I was the only one in the whole school dressed as a football!".