(This post is an edited version of one that was originally posted on Wordsmoker on February 25, 2010, but as that site will soon be going down for good, and tonight is Purim, this seemed the perfect time to shift it over.)

Like all the other wacky stuff we Jews do, the Purim traditions are steeped in the Bible–in this case, that little book at the back called The Book of Esther. The gist of the story in said book is this: A billion years ago in the exotic land of Persia, there lived a king named Akhashverosh (usually transliterated as Ahasuerus but I’m not sure why) and his wife, this chick named Vashti. One day, Akhashverosh got plastered during one of his parties and demanded that Vashti be paraded in front of everyone but she refused. (There are a couple of legends here–that he wanted her to come out naked, that she had a tail, etc.) As a result, she got banished and Akhashverosh began the search for a new queen vis a vis a beauty contest between all the hotties of the kingdom. Continue reading →