On the thriteenth day of the first month [Nisan] . . . a decree was issued, as Haman directed . . . . in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. . . . instructions were dispatched . . . to destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on a single day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month . . . Adar, and to plunder their possessions . . . . a law should be proclaimed in every single province . . . to be publicly displayed to all the peoples so that they might be ready for that day. The couriers went out posthaste . . . and the decree was proclaimed . . . . The king and Haman sat down to drink but the city of Shushan was dumbfounded. Esther 3:12-15. The Writings--Kethubim: A new translation of The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic text, Third Section, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1982. Collage of photocopied sketch; edited in IrfanView.That's an eleven-month warning. It would have fallen on the day before Passover which is Nisan 14. This whistle is small, simple, and shrill -- the tone that would have been piercing my heart and soul, had I been a Jew in Shushan in that time.
For an explanation of Shushan Purim, see Adar II 5. Purim, Purim Katan, and Passover all fall in the middle of their respective Jewish months and that means they coincide with a full moon. Many cultures have names for each month's full moon. February's full moon has many names: Snow Moon (Native American and Neo Pagan), Trapper's Moon (colonial), Budding Moon (Chinese), Bony Moon (Cherokee), Little Famine Moon (Choctaw), Moon of the Raccoon (Dakota Sioux), Moon When Trees Pop (Dakota Sioux), Moon of Ice (Celtic), Storm Moon (English Medievil), and Parriotfish Moon (New Guinea). I hope you get to see total lunar eclipse tonight.
Collage of photocopied sketch; edited in IrfanView.
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