Having a Purim Party
Hamantaschen Cookies for our Purim party. They are filled with apricot, strawberry, and raspberry jams.
One of my favorite things to do as a teacher is to experience other cultures and customs from around the world. Last week I wrote about hosting an Olympic games. When my family studied about Korea, we fixed kimchi and korean beef. We enjoy learning this way. It is fun and memorable.
One of my resolutions for the year 2010 was to celebrate the Biblical Holidays. As a family we wanted to gain a better understanding of the Old Testament. We wanted to learn more about Judaism. We liked the idea that we were celebrating days that Jesus once celebrated.
I am using a great, informative resource. It is a regular how-to for celebrating the Biblical Holidays. The book is appropriately named, A Family Guide to Biblical Holidays, by Robin Sampson and Linda Pierce. You can read more about celebrating these holiday on the Heart of Wisdom site.
The first celebration in the year Purim. This year it is February 28th. Purim is not a Holy Day; it is a festival celebrating the fact that God saved the Jewish people from extermination under Haman’s plan. The entire book of Esther tells the interesting and true story. I am not going to go into detail because you can read about it yourself if you are not already familiar with it.
Since my oldest son was away from home on Sunday, we decided to celebrate Purim today. First of all, we took the day off from school. The kids I made hamantaschens, which are traditional cookies for Purim. They are made to look like a three-sided hat. Tradition has it that Haman wore a hat like this. It was not that hard to find a gluten-free recipe from these cookies. Elana’s Pantry had a good one; although, our cookies are not as nice as her picture.
We made puppets out of cardstock for the main characters like King Ahasuerus, Queen Vashti, Mordecai, Haman, Esther, etc. It is traditional to recite or retell the story from Esther. You cheer for joy when Mordecai is mentioned and use noisemakers when Haman is mentioned. Haman is the bad guy. Jake made noisemakers, or groggers, out of used soda cans and small pebbles.
Instead of simply re-reading the Book of Esther, I found a fun way to tell the story using puppets and puppet show theater that I sewed together years ago that hangs in a doorway. I stumbled upon a site with many different variations of the story called the Hava Nashira Site. It is a musical with the songs set to popular nursery rhymes.
Kyla and Jake will work the puppets while Clayton narrates. Lane, Andrew, Isaac, and I will be the audience and sing-along. It should be a memorable performance.
Then we are having a feast. Kyla planned the dinner. I just asked her to plan a festive dinner. She decided we would make green chicken enchiladas, red chicken enchiladas, spanish rice, and refried beans for dinner.
Celebrating Purim is not difficult. It is truly a celebration. My family is going to have fun together while remembering that God is in control. When things are not going well and circumstances are bleak, God can do amazing things for His people. What better reason to have a Purim party!
How wonderful!!! Lara I celebrate you as a great “Rabbi”!
Last year, we began using Celebrating Biblical Feasts by Martha Zimmerman and celebrated Sabbath. We have really enjoyed it. When we don’t celebrate it on a Friday evening, they are rather sad about it.
As a Jew, I am always so grateful for traditional Christians like you are are so supportive of us and Israel. It was a surprise when I saw “Purim” on your site. Someday, visit the wonderful country of Israel where you will see how the Jews have protected and taken care of the Christian sites. It will be a trip you will never forget.
What a great idea! Last year I went to my first Messianic Seder and was so blessed by it. Robin has a great resource for that as well.
Thanks for such good info. I’m bookmarking this on Delicious and tweeting it 
Thank you, Kaye. Currently we are preparing for our Passover celebration. I am trying to find a good source for lamb.
Lara
Thanks, Kaye.
This is wonderful to see fellow Christians celebrating Biblical Holidays. My family and I started observing them last year and we have been blessed beyond measure. I encourage every Christian to dig in and study our Hebrew roots and not turn away from the faith of our Father’s. Have a wonderful Passover! One more thing, Lara, your article in Countryside magazine was great. It is how I found your website.