Purim: Sunset March 13, 2006 - nightfall March 14, 2006 
Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination. The word "Purim" means "lots" and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date for the massacre.
This is what happens on Purim:
Some will fast or only eat light meals for 3 days prior to Purim.
Everyone listens to the reading of the book of Esther (aka 'the Megillah', which means 'scroll')
It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp feet and rattle gragers (noisemakers) whenever the name of Haman is mentioned in the reading. The purpose of this custom is to "blot out the name of Haman."
It is a time to eat, drink and be merry.
According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is.
A person certainly should not become so drunk that he might violate other commandments or get seriously ill. Recovering alcoholics or others who might suffer serious harm from alcohol are exempt from this obligation.
One is obligated to partake in a festive meal on Purim day. The bare minimum to fulfill this mitzvah requires that one wash and eat bread and then recite the 'bentching', the Grace after Meals, including Al Hanissim, the special prayer for Purim
In addition, people send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. 'sending out portions').
Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman's pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat.
It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests.
Americans sometimes refer to Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras.
The story of Purim is told in the Biblical book of Esther.
The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity.
The villain of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In a speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told the king, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every other people's, and they do not observe the king's laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them." Esther 3:8. The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to do as he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of the Jews.
Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people. This was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king's presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned. Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself, then went into the king. He welcomed her. Later, she told him of Haman's plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.
CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT PURIM
- G-d's name isn't even mentioned once in the entire Scroll of Esther (though He is referred to).
- The longest verse in the Bible is found in the Scroll of Esther (VIII: The original text contains 43 words while the English translation has 90.)
- Queen Esther Street is found in the heart of Tel Aviv
- In a speech of Hitler on 30 January 1944, he said that, if the Nazis went down in defeat, the Jews could celebrate "a second Purim".
- Purim became in many lands the symbolic name for Jewish deliverance and whenever a Jewish community was saved from a horrible fate, from pogrom or exile which a Haman-like ruler tried to impose, the community would celebrate yearly, the day of rescue as a special, local Purim, in the same manner as the universal Jewish Purim.
Purim occurs on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:
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