Traditions and Rituals
A few weeks ago, 63 million Irish people who live in Ireland, plus an estimated 50 to 80 million people around the world who have Irish forebears, as well as millions of those who do not, celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. I wrote about the reason for this tradition recently, but what are the rituals to make this event special? Some of these rituals include, wearing green, and visiting pubs and bars (some celebrate St. Patrick’s every day). There is a story about St. Patrick, that while staying at an Inn, he was given a cup of whiskey that was not full. To teach the innkeeper generosity, he told him that the devil, who lives in the cellar, made him greedy. Since then, to keep the devil away, the cups were always filled to the brim. The custom became known as Pota Phadraig or Patrick’s Pot.
It turns out that Irish people are not the only people who celebrate the holidays with drinking alcoholic beverages.
Last week, the Jewish people celebrated the holiday called Purim. The tradition began shortly after the events that took place 2,500 years ago. At that time, many of the Jews were exiled into Persia (modern day Iran) and some lived in the city of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire. There, Haman, the envious royal vizier, plotted to rid the empire of all the Jews, planning the first holocaust. He convinced the Persian King Ahasuerus to issue a decree to get rid of the Jewish people, because they had different traditions and rituals. According to the story, which is called the Megillat Esther (The Book of Esther), Haman’s plans were miraculously foiled. His hatred for the Jews began when a Jewish man, Mordechai, refused to bow to him. As it sometimes happens in historical twists and turns, the King had chosen Mordechai’s adopted daughter Esther, for a queen, and Mordechai was honored. When she learned that the King issued a decree to kill the Jews, she admitted to him that she belongs to those people and that it is Haman’s hatred that caused the problems. Since the King could not annul his decree, he issued another one to hang Haman and to allow the Jews to arm and protect themselves. This led to the killing of anyone who wanted to kill Jews. But this was not exactly the end of the story. According to the tradition, Haman was a descendant of Amalek, who attacked the Israelites in the desert, when they left Egypt. It is believed that the German Nazis were also direct descendants of Amalek, thereby making them literal and biological “sons of Haman”. No doubt, happy endings like those deserve a celebration; therefore, Jews have a tradition to drink for the joy of being alive, until they can no longer distinguish who is Haman and who is Mordechai.
Both groups of immigrants, the Irish and the Jews, were discriminated when they came to America. Only when the groups united and became a political force, the discrimination subsided. And this deserves a drink. Of water in my case, since I do not drink alcohol.
P.S. One of the rituals of celebrating Purim is to listen to the reading of the Book of Esther, while children (and children at heart) dress up as Mordechai and Esther (and nowadays in other costumes), and each time Haman’s name is mentioned, they make noise by stomping their feet, or using a ratchet. These images are of some kids I met last week at my synagogue.
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Cheers,
