Cossack figure represents Haman; inscription: "Cursed be Haman, cursed be the evildoer."
Place of origin: Eastern Europe
Audio transcript:
In this grogger, we see the figure of Haman in stockades with an inscription of “Cursed be Haman, the evildoer.” The use of an actual Haman figure is unusual and interesting, but the basic construction of the noisemaker is characteristic of a tradition going back hundreds of years.
During the reading of a megillah, it is customary to make noise when Haman’s name is read as a metaphorical way to erase his memory. Prior to the widespread use of this popular style of grogger, Jews had different ways of making noise for Purim.
From the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the most popular ways for European Jews to blot out Haman’s name were writing his name on a pair of rocks and smashing them together and writing his name on the soles of their shoes and stamping their feet when they heard his name read.
In the nineteenth century, Ashkenazi Jews adopted the ratchet to make noise on Purim, calling it a “grogger,” the Yiddish word for rattle. Prior to this, the ratched had been used as a noisemaker by policemen in England and Australia, as part of the percussion section in musical compositions, and by Christians as an alternative to sounding bells in the days leading up to Easter.
The ratchet remains the most popular style for Purim noisemakers today. If you look around this display, you will see more examples of groggers in this style with both traditional and creative interpretations.