page_title: Adloyada
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Adloyada / History
caption_attribution_description: Purim in Tel Aviv. In the photo, a huge doll in the figure of David Ben Gurion, participating in the Adloyada Parade. פורים בתל אביב. בתמונה: בובת ענק של דוד בן גוריון בתהלוכת העדלאידע בתל אביב
context_page_description: Adloyada is a humorous procession held in Israel on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
  The Adloyada parade is a tradition dating back to the early days of Tel Aviv, in 1912. During the days of the Yishuv, the Adloyada was a mass event; it was resumed after the state of Israel was established.
  The name is derived from the rabbinic saying in the Talmud that one should revel on Purim by drinking "until one no longer knows" the difference between "blessed be Mordecai" and "cursed be Haman".
context_section_description: The first Adloyada parade was initiated by Avraham Aldema, a teacher and co-founder of "Hevre Trasek", and was held in Tel Aviv during Purim in 1912. This parade was characterized by provocative costumes and pranks. According to several testimonies, the parade of 1912 was very colorful and beautiful. It consisted of giant puppets, a marching band and hundreds of children wearing their Purim costumes. Throughout the years, the parade became a permanent tradition of Purim. These events were held parallel to the famous celebrations that were organized by Baruch Agadati. Agadati's merriments had become extremely profitable, and so were criticized harshly by "Hevre Trasek" for being over commercialized.
  Tel Aviv's Adloyadas were complemented with luxurious Purim balls, created by Baruch Agadati. Throughout the years, the parades were expanded and their path was moved from Herzl Street to Allenby Street and to Ibn Gabirol Street upon the establishment of the state of Israel.
  During the 1930s, every Adloyada had a specific theme, for example the tribes of Israel (in 1934), and the achievements of the Yishuv. During that time, Tel Aviv's Purim events attracted many tourists from all around Israel and from abroad.
  As opposed to European states, where carnivals were a means to break loose and consisted of extreme licentiousness, aggressiveness and protest, the Tel Aviv event had different features. The main carnival, despite its new name Adloyada, was characterized by a "proper" behavior. The municipality issued annual limitations on the Purim celebrations such as a prohibition to use explosives and dress up in costumes that may offend the Jewish religion or the Israeli nation. Despite the censorship and the sanctions, there were a few costumes and parades that didn't obey the rules and used the public festivity to express social protest, and thus made their mark on the city.
  During the 1928 carnival, with the theme "10 years to the national home", Hevre Trasek presented a 10-candle Menorah (as a symbol to Balfour's statement); instead of candles there was a rude gesture and the sign "free Aliya, Jews in the top clerical work". In one of the "Menorah" balls (Menorah was a club founded by veterans) in 1927, Avraham Atkind won the costume competition for his costume: "balancing the clerk's salary in the Palestine government". Atkind's hat had a scale and a photograph of the residence of the British commissioner in the magnificent Augusta Victoria building in Mount Scopus, as well as a poem, expressing the discontent of the gap between the British clerk's salary and the salaries of local Israelis from all ethnic groups.
  Gdud Meginei Hasafa (Hebrew: גדוד מגיני השפה, Battalion for the Defence of the Language), an organization in Tel Aviv fighting to make Hebrew the common language in Mandatory Palestine, used Purim to present and to flood the streets with written propaganda. The Gdud documents were distributed during the Purim carnival. In addition, the Gdud held an annual costume competition with the theme of the superiority and importance of the Hebrew language. In the carnival of 1929, the Gdud presented the "tower of Babylon"; a tower on top of a horse-drawn cart with the slogan "revival of the language, revival of the people" and "words can kill".
  In the main carnival of 1933, there was a puppet of Hitler riding a horse, as part of the parade. On its neck there was a sign saying; "kill Jews" and next to it there were 2 Jews bleeding to death.  The German consul in Jerusalem sent a letter to Tel Aviv Mayor Meir Dizengoff in the matter and demanded an apology, but Dizengoff replied that Purim is a stage for free speech of public opinion. A year later, a huge puppet was presented with a swastika on its back.
  In 1935, a giant puppet was built, named "the profiteering monster". On the day of festivities, a public trial was held for the puppet, during which Dizengoff, Menachem Ussishkin, Chaim Weizmann and Yehoshua Hankin ruled that the monster was guilty of various crimes including fraud, spending the people's wealth, and destruction o
caption: David Ben-Gurion float at the Adloyada parade, 1998
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