Taking to the Streets

I saw Zorro yesterday.

That was right after I had run into one of the Seven Dwarves—though his parents appeared quite young considering how white his beard was.

Which was before Winnie the Pooh almost ran into me as he came careening across the square.

Most of all yesterday I saw princesses.  Mixed in with the angels, butterflies, clowns and Mickey Mouses (plural—so: Mice?), princesses were everywhere.

Jerusalem celebrated Purim yesterday, and similar to our Carnival, costumes spill out onto the street.  Commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people from destruction through the bravery of Queen Esther, this Jewish feast brings to life many of her younger sisters.

One of the other traditions of the day is the reading of the book of Esther, with cheering whenever her name is read, and a cacophony of noise whenever Haman the villain's name is read, attempting to drown out even the hearing of it.

The book of Esther, coincidentally, was the only book of the Jewish Bible not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, so this feast partially makes up for that absence.