The festival of Purim celebrates the failure of an effort to kill all the Jews of the Persian Empire in the fifth century B.C.E. (Before the Common Era). The Book of Esther, which relates the story, is read today from a scroll called a megillah. Although there are five books of the Hebrew Bible which) are kept individually on a single roller this is the only one which continues to be read in this manner, and is therefore called “The Megillah.” It is the only book of the Hebrew Bible that does not include the name of God.
The story begins in the third year of the reign of King Ahasuerus of Shushan. During a celebratory banquet, he asked his Queen Vashti to show her beauty to his guests, but she refused. He asked a second time and still she refused. An advisor recommended that she be banished from her royal position and that the king find a new Queen.
In the same city, Mordecai, a Jew suggested that his cousin Hadassah (i.e. Esther) vie for the role. She pleased the King and was selected. Subsequently, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman as his chief advisor and required that all bow down to him. Mordecai would not do so and this enraged Haman so that he sought to exterminate all the Jews of the kingdom. He told the king of the people who did not follow the law and the king agreed that they should be killed. They cast lots and determined that the decree would be carried out on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar.
Esther heard that Mordecai was saddened by this news. He asked her to appeal to the king for clemency, which she said she would do at a banquet. Meanwhile, at Haman’s command, gallows were built to hang Mordecai. At the same time, the king learned of Mordecai’s unrewarded assistance in an earlier plot and asked Haman how to honor such a person. He replied that such a man should be honored be being led through the city on a royal horse, with royal clothing, and crown. So the king ordered that this be done for Mordecai.
At the banquet, Queen Esther asked that she and her people be spared from annihilation, as ordered by Haman. The king was incensed and ordered that Haman be hung. The next day was one of great joy and celebration. And so it continues to this day.
There are a variety of art objects used to commemorate these events and the customs, which have grown up around the holiday. Because the name of God is not included in the narrative, the Scrolls of Esther were heavily illustrated. The custom of creating a Purim play loosely based on the story began in the Middle Ages. Masquerade parties for adults and children, encouraged people to dress in the costumes of the main characters in the story. They used noisemakers to cover the name of Haman as the Megillah was read. Another tradition is the giving of “Shalach Manot,” or gifts of food and money to the poor. Often included are three-cornered pastries, called “Hamantaschen.”
In addition to decorating the legend told in the megillot, artists all over the world embellished the cases in which the Scroll of Esther was kept. In contemporary times, artists painted aspects of the holiday through their own eyes. In Eastern countries, the Purim story was interwoven with the history of Persia and was used to decorate a Shiviti of Psalm 67, which acknowledges God’s presence and asks that the Jews be favored.
