Megillah 102: Why We Wear Purim Costumes?

A “holiday in disguise”:

The holiday of Purim is insignificantly significant. The miracles of the Purim story were very indirect and hidden. In fact, the only time a person can see how great the miracles were, is after reading the entire Purim story. Only when completing the full story, do all the pieces of the puzzle come together. G-d disguised himself as a villain, making it seem like he was going to destroy the Jewish nation. In the end, however, he destroyed the very people who were trying to annihilate his children. In honor of this, we wear costumes, to commemorate the idea of a blessing in disguise.

Note: We can learn an important lesson from this: When a person’s actions seem wrong, they are not always so. It is important to judge people favorably.

A commemoration of Mordechai swapping places with Haman:

When Mordechai initially wore sackcloth and went into mourning, god arranged for a swap to be made. Haman ended up guiding a royal horse with Mordechai sitting on it, wearing royal clothing. To remember this “mix-up”, we dress up in clothing we wouldn’t normally wear.

Compassion:

On Purim, there is a positive commandment to give money to the poor. On this day, many poor people raise money for their families. In order to save them the embarrassment, we all dress up in different clothing, so no one needs to know who the collector is.

Reality:

Another reason why costumes are important is the reality of a costume. On a regular day, it may seem that people are valued according to the way they dress or speak. On Purim, we disguise ourselves and many of us drink wine. These actions help us realize that we aren’t our cover or our outsides. We are however our personality and souls, and we are valued according to our efforts, not according to the way we look.

Something you didn’t know about a costume:

There are a few standard costumes that are very common to see on Purim. Here are a few examples:

1. Mordechai
2. Haman
3. Esther
4. Vashti
5. Clown

These costumes are beautiful. There are, however, some who create extremely creative costume ideas. There are those who dress up as authority figures, such as policemen, firemen and superheros. There are others who dress up as famous characters they idolize. There are those who are from more protective homes, who are usually given only a few options of dressing. Many times they use Purim to dress up as someone their parents generally would not approve but would flip their opinion on this day just as the Jewish people’s fate flipped. Many times it’s is the other way around. Children from completely liberal homes will dress up as someone very orthodox.

In conclusion, Purim is an amazing opportunity to get to know yourself, your family and your friends in a very real way, and costumes play a large role in this.