Dressed in costume as princesses, superheroes, animals and movie characters, 36 students from Congregation Beth Shalom (CBS) Preschool celebrated Purim Friday during the school’s annual carnival.
“We have been doing the Purim Carnival for 19 years,” said Carol Bloom, director of Early Childhood Education at CBS. “They were asked to come in costumes.”
During the carnival, students jumped in an inflatable bounce house, had their faces painted, sang songs with teachers and played popular carnival games like fishing for toys and tossing bags.
“They are set to go in a parade in their costumes too,” said Sara Freedman, CBS Preschool’s Hebrew teacher.
The annual carnival is part of the congregation’s celebration of Purim on March 14.
“This is the history that happened year ago in the land of Persia, which is Iran today,” Freedman said. “The king had a chief advisor named Haman who didn’t like the Jews and tried to kill them.”
Freedman said Queen Esther went to the king and asked him to save the Jews.
“The day that was supposed to be bad was a happy day,” she said. “Over the years they celebrated the day and got dressed in all sorts of costumes.”
Today, the tradition continues with families dressing in costumes and eating cookies called Hamentashens, which represent Haman’s three-pointed hat.
At CBS Preschool’s Purim Carnival, a parent volunteer dressed as Queen Esther helped the students color pictures of a Hamentashen and transform it into a cookie through her “magic oven.”
“Bake, bake, bake magic oven. Bake, Bake, Bake a yummy Hamentashen,” the students all sang together as they waited for the drawing to transform into a cookie.
Molly, 5, dressed as Rainbow Dash said the magic oven was her favorite part of the day.
“It had gold in the middle,” she said of her Hamentashen drawing. “It was yummy.”
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