Yes...Pens and Purim......
and by now you're saying to yourself....huh? What is this crazy woman talking about..
Well, tonight begins the Jewish festival of PURIM.
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It is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman's plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”
The story of Purim is told in the book of Esther. We call that scroll The "Megillah of Esther" and it is read twice in the course of the festival: on the eve of Purim, and during Purim day. It is read in the original Hebrew from a parchment scroll.
The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity.
The villain of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so Haman plotted to destroy the Jews.
Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people. This was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king's presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned.
Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself, then went into the king. He welcomed her. Later, she told him of Haman's plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman and his ten sons were hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.
OKAY...now you know the Biblical story!
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We celebrate with a feast tonight at our temple and we eat Hamentaschen, a filled-pocket pastry recognizable for its triangular shape representing the triangle shape of Hamans' hat.
Below were made by the kids in our religious school !
OKAY...
so now....what about THE PENS !!!!???
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well,
when I visited the Sakura Pen "ambassador" in Florida last month....(that, BTW, would be my oldest crafting friend of probably 30+ years, Calligrapher extraordinaire Joanne Fink), Joanne gave me a bunch of Sakura Glaze pens to take home and play with.
So...as I was out and about at my local Michaels Crafts I came across some cute little wooden masks for one dollar ea. They only had 2 queens left so I took them both....and a robot.
perfect for Queen Esther in the Purim story!
SEE...it's beginning to come together now....right?
PENS....PURIM...WE'RE GETTIN' THERE...RIGHT ???
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NOW... having NOT a single clue as to how these glaze pens would react to raw wood I thought I'd just sit in front of a good TV show and relax , pen in hand & pray to be amazed.
and .......BOY WAS I AMAZED !!!
juicy doesn't even begin to describe how full of ink the glaze pens are. And Vivid. And Shiny !!!!
for her skin I used the Sakura soufle pen which gave a different effect...not glaze, and dried to a smooth even color.
Now I will.....of course...glitter them up as well...after all, a queen MUST have her sparkle.
and, the Lenster will get this one
which, for a final touch, I added some Steampunk to
and now, we'll be off to PURIM in style!!
Chag Sameach (sam-A-ach)
(Happy Holiday)
