Pyrrhuloxia : Purim’s Mask
Pyrrhuloxia
This is a Pyrrhuloxia. Did you initially think it was a Cardinal? A common bird we see all the time but perhaps with strange coloration? Was there just enough familiar that you felt recognition - but just enough “off” that you questioned your own judgment? That’s certainly how I felt when I first learned this bird existed. And even as we look more closely, those feelings are reinforced. The cardinal is red with a black mask; the pyrrhuloxia inverts that presentation, with his dark body and red mask. If you’re new to birds like I was, this bird can throw you off kilter, tantalizing you with what you think you know but changing things up just enough that you’re taken aback. The species are cousins, related but distinct.
As Purim approaches, I think about so many questions that surround this festival. Why is this the only book of the Bible to not explicitly have God’s name mentioned even once? Why is the relationship - niece? cousin? wife? - between Esther and Mordecai so challenging to discern? Why is “purim” - translatable as “lots” or “chance drawings” - the naming term of the story? And why does it sound like “Yom Kippur?” Why is this silliest of holidays - with costumes and children’s plays and drinking in the synagogue - the only one that will still be celebrated in the World to Come? Most times, my learning leads to revealed meaning. But with Purim, the more I study, the more I feel its meanings are hidden further away.
Purim is a holiday of masks, disguised identity, and questioning. Think deeply about our experiences throughout the year, and those same considerations arise again and again. What masks do we use to conceal our identities, purposefully or not, from others and ourselves? What questions do we face as we attempt to know - deeply, truly - someone else? So many answers I think I know, I understand, are revealed as more complex than I knew. The Pyrrhuloxia, beautiful and masked, reminds me of one thing while in fact being something else entirely. Purim is a tantalizing hint, sharing just enough to spark recognition - and hiding just enough that I question what I think I know.