That Other Religious Holiday

Because the Jewish calendar is lunar and the Christian roman calendar isn't, Easter and Passover are out of sync this year. Instead it's Purim time for the Kosher set.

Purim is the celebration of the biblical book of Esther. Mordecai and the beautiful queen Esther (yeah!) overcome the evil Haman (Boo! *rattle* *rattle*) and he gets hoisted on his own gallows. The season is usually celebrated with a bit of costume play, girls dress as Esther, boys dress as Mordecai or the King. It is also celebrated with hamentoshen, triangularly-shaped cookies with fruit filling. They're yummy but typically supermarket hamentoshen are very dry and not as yummy as they should be.

David Bernstein has more about his synagogue's celebration. Here is a choice bit:

I managed to inject some levity, at least for my wife and me, by vigorously spinning my grogger (noisemaker) at the mention of Hillary Clinton, an "honor" usually reserved for the evil Haman.

Good for him.