ytThe season of Purim is a very special one to Three Brothers Bakery. Purim is a holiday that celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman the Agagite. Jews and Christians alike may be familiar with the Megillah (the story of Esther), but we decided to share one portion of our culture with you, our extended family, by telling you all about the story behind hamantaschen.
What are Hamantaschen? Hamantaschen are delicious little sugar cookies stuffed with delicious fillings (typically fruit). These sugar cookies are pinched into little triangle “hats” to represent Haman the Agagite. If you’ve heard the term “the whole Megillah,” you know that Haman the Agagite was the man who wanted to rid the ancient Persian empire of the Jews. Haman wore a hat that was in a triangular shape (I once heard them referred to as “Napoleon hats or French hats,” which made me chuckle), which is where we get the name: HAMAN-taschen or the singular hamantash.
Every Purim at Sundown, we go to the Synagogue and the Rabbi reads us the story of Esther. As we listen to the Rabbi read us the Megillah, we make sure the name “Haman” is written on the bottom of our shoes and that we have Gregors on hand. Gregors are noisemakers that are made of wood, metal or aluminum that spin around and make a very loud noise. When we hear the name “Haman,” we stamp our feet and spin our Gregors so we drown out the wretched name of Haman.
Celebrating Purim is fun for the entire family. You could almost think of Purim as our version of the fun part of Halloween in that we wear costumes like the characters in the Megillah – Queen Esther (our heroine), Queen Vashti, Haman, Mordecai and King Ahasuerus, who was the King of Persia. It’s a lot of fun! And, not to be forgotten, we get to eat lots of hamantaschen.
Traditionally, hamantaschen are filled with some favorite fillings such as prune and poppyseed (mon), apricot and other fruit fillings such as raspberry, cherry and others. Nowadays, you can find hamantaschen filled with other types of fruits such as lemon, blueberry and pineapple, as well as non-fruit varieties such as chocolate or cheese fillings. The Americanized version are the cookie dough type and the traditional hamantaschen are made with yeast.
Three Brothers Bakery serves hamantaschen all year round, but are happy to be able to provide families all across the country celebrating Purim every year with a little bit of history. Not to brag, but many say Three Brothers Bakery has the best hamantaschen in the country (maybe in the world).
This year, Purim is from March 7-8, 2012
but don’t wait till Purim
order your hamantaschen today!
Great song by the Maccabeats about the Megillah!
Website with easy Do It Yourself Gregor!