Festive finery Festive finery

Testing out those Purim costumes

With the holiday days away, Israelis are already sporting festive costumes in celebrating

By Ilan Ben Zion 6 March 2012, 7:28 pm

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Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.

Children of migrant workers wear costumes as they celebrate Purim in south Tel Aviv in 2012 (photo credit: Roni Schutzer/Flash90)

Children and adults across Israel are preparing for the Purim holiday, which begins Wednesday evening, by taking their costumes out for a test drive.

Children in costumes leave school in south Tel Aviv. (photo credit: Michal Shmulovich/Times of Israel)

Purim parades are scheduled in cities across the country on Thursday and Friday. Costume (and alcohol) sales are at their yearly high, and a festive atmosphere is brewing.

Israeli women dressed up in costumes for the Jewish holiday of Purim walk on Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Book of Esther is traditionally read on Purim eve and the following morning. The National Library in Jerusalem announced it will display a 400-year-old scroll of the Book of Esther — the oldest in its collection — in honor of the upcoming holiday.