OVERVIEW OF PURIM
Purim - "Lots", is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Persian Jews from the plot of the evil Haman to exterminate them, as recorded in the biblical Book of Esther. According to that book, the feast was instituted as a national one by the book's protagonists, Mordechai and Esther. Purim is celebrated annually in the spring month of March. As with all Jewish holidays, Purim begins at sundown on the previous day.
HISTORY OF PURIM
Like Hanukkah, Purim's status as a holiday is on a lesser level than those of the Biblically ordained holy days. Accordingly, business transactions and even manual labor are allowed on Purim, although in certain places restrictions have been imposed on work.
Purim has been held in high esteem by Judaism at all times; some have held that when all the prophetical and hagiographical works are forgotten, the Book of Esther will still be remembered, and, accordingly, the Feast of Purim will continue to be observed.
The Book of Esther enjoins the annual celebration of the feast among the Jews on the 14th and 15th of Adar, commanding that they should "make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor". The siddur (Jewish prayer book) has a special prayer to be said on this festival.
Many kinds of merry-making and mockery have been indulged in on Purim, so that among the masses it has become almost a general rule that "on Purim everything is allowed", even transgressions of a Biblical law, such as the appearance of men in women's attire and vice versa, which is strictly prohibited in Deut. 22:5. The traditional tunes of prayers sung in the synagogue are also sometimes altered, always in deliberately humorous ways.
PURIM TRIVIA
During Purim, it is traditional to eat festive meals and to serve hamantasch cookies..
Source: The English Wikipedia
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