Read an excerpt on Purim from the novel THE LADIES AUXILIARY by Tova Mirvis, reprinted in CELEBRATING THE JEWISH HOLIDAYS, edited by Steven J. Rubin (Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2003):

On the eve of Purim, we went to shul, trying to get ourselves into the proper mood. The day before the holiday was a fast day, commemorating the danger the Jews had been in in Persia, and we were struck by the sudden change of mood, from somber and repentant to wild and free. We tried to loosen up, to push our worries to the backs of our minds and breathe in the joyousness of this one day of the year when we were commended to be free-spirited, when nothing is supposed to be as it usually is; just as Haman's decree against the Jews was reversed and he was hanged on the same gallows he prepared for Mordechai, we celebrate this day where everything is turned upside-down.

The shul had been decorated with this theme in mind. In the seats in the front of the room where the board members usually sat, someone had placed stuffed animals wearing cartoon characters masks. And there were streamers hanging from the ner tamid, a red-and-white polka-dot tablecloth across the bima. Even the rabbi was wearing a Hawaiian print shirt. Mrs. Levy wore a pair of rhinestone-studded sunglasses, and she had encouraged Helen Shayowitz to tie a yellow ribbon in her hair. Tziporah Newburger had brought along a floppy rainbow-colored hat to wear over her wig, if she worked up the nerve. Batsheva was the only adult who wore a full-fledged costume, and by now, this wasn't surprising. She was dressed as Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story. Her hair was elaborately braided underneath a construction-paper gold crown, and she wore a long purple dress covered with tiny beads and sequins. Around her neck she had tied a silver, sparkly piece of fabric, creating a dramatic flourish behind her when she walked.

We tried, though, not to think about Batsheva as we listened to the reading of the Scroll of Esther. Achashverosh, the king of Persia, held a feast in Shushan, his capital city, and ordered his wife, Vashti, to appear. She refused, and in his drunkenness, he had her killed. The next morning, he awoke, filled with sorrow at what he had done. His minister Haman advised him to assemble all the maidens in the land and select a new queen. In the end he chose Esther, who, unbeknownst to him, was a Jew. Later, when Mordechai, Esther's uncle, would not bow down to Haman, Haman was furious and conspired to kill all the Jews of Persia. Hearing of this decree, Esther went before the king, revealed that she was Jewish, and pleaded for her people. The king granted her request, hanged Haman, and appointed Mordechai as minister in his place. The Jews of Persia took revenge on their enemies and they were joyous and happy.