BY ALONZO L. GASKILL, PH.D

Purim is a popular Jewish holiday that is also known as the most raucous of all the traditional Jewish celebrations. It is celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Adar which, on the Hebrew calendar, is the twelfth month of their ecclesiastical year, and typically falls somewhere around the month of March on the Gregorian calendar.

This holiday, which usually has a Mardi Gras spirit about it, celebrates the last-minute rescue of the Jewish community from threats of destruction, as described in the story of Esther from the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical account, the Jewish people of the city of Shushan were threatened with destruction by a Persian man by the name of Haman, who served as the grand visor (or prime minister) of King Ahasuerus, who ruled over a vast kingdom of 127 regions. Haman was angered that a Jewish man named Mordechai would not bow to him. As a result, Haman wrote up a decree that all Jews living in the kingdom should be killed, and he used his influence with the king to make it official. Haman cast lots to determine the date on which he would kill the Jews (“Purim” means literally “lots”), and he determined that his extermination of the Jewish people would be carried out on the 13th of Adar.

The heroine of the story is Esther, a young Jewish girl who had been chosen to become the wife of the Persian King Ahasuerus, but who had never revealed her Jewish identity to the king. When word of the decree went public, she was contacted by Mordechai, her cousin and guardian after the death of her parents, and the very person who inspired Haman’s wrath. Mordecai encouraged her to reveal her identity to the king, to see if she could save her people. The request was risky—Esther could be killed for appearing before the king without his invitation. However, after asking the Jewish people of the kingdom to pray and fast for three days, she agrees to plead her case before the king. The story takes on a number of twists and dramatic turns...

https://www.patheos.com/answers/what-is-the-jewish-holiday-purim