The observance rests on four traditional duties. The reading of the Megillah, the Scroll of Esther, is heard twice, at night and in the morning, and at every mention of Haman's name the congregation drowns it out with groggers (noisemakers), stamping and shouting, so that the villain's name is blotted out. Then come mishloach manot, gifts of ready-to-eat food sent to friends; matanot la-evyonim, gifts to at least two poor people, so that the day's joy reaches those who could not otherwise share it; and the festive meal, the seudah.
Purim's tone is deliberately one of reversal and release: costumes and masks play on the theme of hidden identity, satirical "Purim spiels" mock the powerful, and a much-cited rabbinic dictum encourages drinking until one can no longer tell "cursed be Haman" from "blessed be Mordecai", a licensed inversion of the year's usual sobriety. Triangular pastries called hamantaschen ("Haman's pockets", or in Hebrew oznei Haman, "Haman's ears") are eaten. Falling a month before Passover, Purim is the most exuberant day of the Jewish year, and its themes of survival and the reversal of a decree of annihilation have given it added weight in modern Jewish memory.