Purim Cup

The rabbis of the Talmud suggested that Jews should celebrate Purim by drinking until they no longer knew the difference between blessing Mordecai, the Jewish hero of the Purim story, and cursing Haman, the evil vizier. This saying is inscribed around the rim (Talmud, Megillah 7b) and is illustrated by the figure of a man raising a cup. The second figure represents another way Purim is celebrated, through the performance of comic plays, "Purimspieln."