Jerusalem Revelers Celebrate Purim

Jerusalem gets an extra day of festivities.

ByABC News
March 6, 2015, 12:05 PM
Orthodox Jewish girls look on from behind a shop's window in Jerusalem's neighborhood of Mea Sharim, on March 6, 2015 during the feast of Purim.
Orthodox Jewish girls look on from behind a shop's window in Jerusalem's neighborhood of Mea Sharim, on March 6, 2015 during the feast of Purim.
Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

—JERUSALEM -- Israeli police have cleared the site of the suspected terrorist attack this morning at a light rail station in east Jerusalem –- and revelers celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim are out in force by this afternoon.

Secular teenagers donned wigs and threw fraternity-style street parties, setting off fireworks into the air.

Waiters at restaurants sported masks and religious children dressed up as Cinderella or Superman. Roaming the streets of Jerusalem, an unscientific survey found that princesses, of all kinds, were the clear favorites with the under-five set.

PHOTO: Orthodox Jewish youth pose during celebration of the feast of Purim in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on March 5, 2015.
Orthodox Jewish youth pose during celebration of the feast of Purim in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on March 5, 2015.

To briefly review the Purim tradition, according to the Biblical Book of Esther, Haman, a royal vizier to King Ahasuerus, hatched a plot to kill all of the Jews in the ancient Persian Empire some 2,500 years ago.

The plot was foiled, and Purim is the Jewish celebration on the other side. But today, the day of deliverance, feasting and heavy drinking, has turned into an epic carnival-like party for much of the Jewish world. In Jerusalem, the party lasts for an extra day.

At a celebration in central Jerusalem today, the atmosphere struck the balance between an American kindergarten Halloween parade and Cirque Du Soleil.

Trend-spotting, wigs were everywhere.

Note the toddler in the polka dotted dress looks a bit frighted.

There was also a lot of skin on display in Jerusalem; a city that rarely displays much skin.

Yesterday, much of the country celebrated Purim. Here at Adloyada, masked children participate in Israel’s biggest Purim parade in the city of Holon.

PHOTO: Israelis at the Adloyada, the biggest Purim parade in Israel, are pictured on March 5, 2015 in Holon, Israel.
Israelis at the Adloyada, the biggest Purim parade in Israel, are pictured on March 5, 2015 in Holon, Israel.
PHOTO: Orthodox Jewish children are pictured wearing costumes during the feast of Purim in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on March 5, 2015.
Orthodox Jewish children are pictured wearing costumes during the feast of Purim in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on March 5, 2015.

And in Tel Aviv, Orthodox Jewish children are pictured in Bnei Brak.

PHOTO: Masked children at the Adloyada, the biggest Purim parade in Israel, are pictured on March 5, 2015 in Holon, Israel.
Masked children at the Adloyada, the biggest Purim parade in Israel, are pictured on March 5, 2015 in Holon, Israel.