文档介绍：Moveable Feast
Feast of Lots
Purim
抽签节(又名普林节)
With its raucousness, relentless clowning, and borderline-bawdy theatrics and masquerades, Purim is the most unbuttoned of Jewish holidays, inadvertently echoing Mardi Gras and other pre-Lenten carnivals occurring at this same time of year. Some anthropologists hold that Purim is no less than a descendant of iastic Babylonian New Year, on which Marduk and his fellow gods were said to gamble by casting lots (purim in the Babylonian language). The consensus, however, is that memorates one Queen Esther, who with her cousin Mordecai, thwarted a massacre that had been engineered by the anti-Semitic royal adviser, Haman. (Haman, it is said, ended up on the gallows.)
Purim is the only day of the Jewish year on which celebrants are canonically permitted-in fact encouraged-to drink themselves silly. After a formal reading from the Book of Esther to usher in the holiday, many temples sponsor Purim carnivals, complete with song, dance, and games of the knock-over-bottles- plinted-with- Haman’s - face variety. Carnival booths offer hamentaschen, triangular filled cookies that represent Haman’s three-cornered hat. Throughout the day, revelers are encouraged to stomp the floor, blow horns, and whirl graggers (special low-pitched noisemakers) whenever Haman’s name is mentioned.

1 raucousness 喧闹 1 relentless 不间断的 2 borderline-bawdy 低级下流的 3 unbuttoned 没有拘束的 5 Mardi Gras 大斋首日的前一天(fat Tuesday,直译为“油腻的星期二”) 5-6 pre-Lenten carnivals 大斋前的狂欢节 8 no less than 正是 iastic 纵酒狂欢的 9 Marduk 马尔杜克,古代巴比伦人的主神 12 Esther 以斯贴,波斯皇后,犹太人 12 Mordecai 末底改,Esther的堂兄,从Haman手中救出犹太人 13 Haman 哈曼,波斯王的宰相 14 gallows 绞刑架 16-17 drink themselves silly 喝酒喝得晕晕乎乎 19 games of the knock-over –bottles-painted- with-Haman’s face variety 做打翻画着哈曼面孔的瓶子之类的游戏 22
stomp 跺
March 1
Matronalia
主妇节
In the holiday-obsessed world of ancient Rome, even the gods had birthdays. Garrulous Mars had his on March 1, the beginning (kalends) of the month that bore-and still bears-h