Hamantaschen: Symbol of Adar

The transformative power of food magick.

Look Mom! I made Hamantaschen!

Yes, it’s Adar and I decided to go exactly where  you expected me to this month — Purim and Hamantaschen.  But as opposed to doing a history of the fabled, and delicious, Purim cookie — I’m going to explore some of the mythic and ritual opportunities these humble cookies offer us.

If you are unfamiliar with the history of hamantaschen, this post from Seforim Blog is a great place to start (thanks to

Rachel Barenblat

of Velveteen Rabbi for the link).   For some the triangle shaped cookies represent Haman’s (the villian of Purim) hat, pockets or ears. 

There are also dozens of different recipes for the delicious cookies, and debates over whether jam or poppy-seed filling is the best. There are yeast dough recipes, regular old cookie dough recipes, and even this cream cheese recipes that seems to merge rugelach and hamantaschen.

And of course, different areas of the Jewish world have different Purim treats that gobble up different aspects of Haman.

• Turkish Jews prefer Haman’s Fingers

• French Jewry enjoys Haman’s Ears aka Palmiers

• Persian Jews mock Haman’s fleas

• And many just eat tasty treats.

But enough about the actual cookie.  Let’s talk food magiq!