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Next: 23 Mar 2027

Purim

The carnival of Esther, with filled three-cornered hamantaschen and, in Yemenite homes, a spiced meat soup.

Photo: Unknown author, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Spices for Purim

On Purim, people dress up, exchange food gifts (mishloach manot) and bake hamantaschen with poppy seed, prune or apricot filling; poppy seed (mohn) is the old Ashkenazi favourite. Persian Jewish homes mark the day with saffron and herb rice, in memory of the Persian setting of the story, and Iraqi homes with kubbeh in turmeric broth. Spice appears as small, scattered notes in the gifts given to neighbours.

The spices

Poppy seedThe classic filling of hamantaschen.SaffronPersian Jewish rice.TurmericIraqi kubbeh broth.
About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Purim" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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