Photo courtesy of Jake Levin/Gloucester Daily Times. Manchester: Children learned about the festive Jewish holiday of Purim on Tuesday at Manchester Public Library. They heard the telling of The Story of Esther and Sammy Spider's First Purim. The participants used noisemakers every time the name of the bad guy in The Story of Esther, Haman, was mentioned, and when Queen Esther's name was spoken, all would say "Ohh, lala!" and when her uncle Mordechai's name was mentioned, they would say "Hip Hip Hooray!" The Robert I Lappin Charitable Foundation of Salem sponsored the free program at the library. Children also ate hamentashen, which are triangle-shaped cookies filled with preserves, and made little baskets to bring treats to neighbors and friends for the holiday, which starts Purim begins in the evening of Wednesday, March 7, 2012, and ends in the evening of Thursday, March 8, 2012. Sampling hamentashen is Jack McCavanagh, 4, of Manchester.

120302JLEPURIM