Purim

Culture of origin: Jewish · Cultural

Holiday sources: Iran · Israel · Judaism

Purim ("lots") recalls how Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai foiled Haman, vizier to the Persian king Ahasuerus, who plotted to destroy the Jews, as the Book of Esther tells. It falls on 14 Adar, in Adar II in leap years. Jews read the Scroll of Esther aloud, send gifts of food, give to the poor and share a festive meal, often in masks and costumes. A visitor to Hamadan in 1850 saw the Book of Esther read there on Purim at the tomb of Esther and Mordechai. The tomb, the most important Jewish pilgrimage site in Iran and visited above all on Purim, has been on Iran's National Heritage List since 1937. In February 2020 a hard-line Basij student group in Hamadan threatened to tear it down and put a Palestinian consulate in its place. In May 2020 it was the target of an arson attack that left smoke damage; in October 2023 the tombs were desecrated, and in April 2024 attackers threw Molotov cocktails at the shrine and set the complex on fire.