PURIM(From my book –"The Girl from Lisbon")Two weeks after preparing the wine, the holiday of Purim came. They did not put on costumes, as Jews do today, but they did tell the story of Queen Esther, with whom they identified so much. Like them, Esther had concealed the fact she was Jewish. Some even called her Saint Esther. For them, the holiday of Purim was as important as Yom Kippur. Because Esther had fasted for three days before asking King Ahasuerus to rescue her Jewish brothers and sisters from the evil Haman, who persecuted them, the Marranos observed the Fast of Esther and did their best to try to fast on that day. Some women would even fast for three days in Esther’s honor. For those who did not observe a fast, the traditional Marrano pastry for that holiday was walnut croissants, roskas de alhesho, the Spanish version of hamantaschen. There is a prayer that many Marrano women would learn by heart and say while fasting: “… Remember, O Lord, and make Yourself known in the time of our need. Fill my heart with divine courage, God of all nations, lord of all bravery. Let me speak proudly to the lion and fill his heart with hatred for our enemies…and those who wish us ill, and redeem us with Your mighty hand, and save me from my misery for I have none to help me but You… I abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and foreigners… I abhor the sign of my lofty position, the crown I am forced to wear in public, I abhor it like a menstrual cloth and take it off in my solitude… Your slave has not rejoiced since the day of my arrival here and to this very day, it is You who are my only joy, O Lord, God of Abraham, the mighty God, the Supreme Lord, hear the voice of the lost and save us from the hand of evildoers and free me from my fears.” The Marranos needed to observe not only the Jewish holidays, they had to appear Christian, and pious ones at that. Every Sunday, they had to be seen at church and chat with as many people before and after the prayer as they could, so that they would be known in public as devout Christians. One of the most common customs of the Catholic Church is that of confession — people would go every week to confess their sins before the priest and receive punishment or absolution. The Marranos would try to avoid confession. They feared that this personal interview would cause some of them to forget themselves and reveal forbidden information. But they still had to confess from time to time so the Christians wouldn’t suspect them. They would invent sins for themselves and prepare answers for any questions the priests might ask so as not to give themselves away. An important part of the Christian way of life the Marranos had to undertake was fasting and refraining from certain types of foods. Christians were taught to feel guilt and remorse and thus had 215 special days of fasting every year. On some of them they did not eat anything, while on others they abstained only from meat. Meat was proscribed as a pleasurable food and because of God’s curse of Adam and Eve: “And thou shalt eat the herb of the field,” because of the “original sin,” as the Christian called the transgression of eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. They regularly had three days of fasting every week: Wednesday, which is the day on which, according to their beliefs, Judas Iscariot received payment for betraying Jesus; Friday, which was the day of Jesus’ crucifixion; and Saturday, which is the day of Mary, mother of Jesus. "