What you are expected to do on Purim:
*Dress up in costumes depicting characters from the Story of Purim
*Eat until your gut ruptures
*Drink alcohol (it actually says in the torah that you have to do this; to "lift thy spirits" or something like that)
*Gamble
*Party
*Sing
*Use those annoying noise-maker things
*Eat a crapload of candy, cakes, other sweets, and hamantaschen (little pastries filled with poppyseeds; literally means "Haman's ears" in Hebrew)
In Israel, I think you have the day off (you get a day off to party, eat, and get wasted). There are parades, and you get to just generally frolic and have a good freakin' time.
It's good to be Jewish.
