This is a parade float which was made for Purim, the Jewish holiday which celebrates a historic victory for the Jews. It is traditional for Jews to dress up in fancy dress on Purim, to drink and be merry. In Israel parades are held in most major cities and each school is required to make a float or other attraction for the parade.

The school was provided with a large trolley structure on wheels and a metal frame work of their choice. The metal frame work was simply seven "arms" of metal rods which originated at a central point on the trolley. Each metal rod was bent and shaped to suit each of the seven days of creation.

This parade float was part of a parade with a theme of "the colors of nature" and this particular school chose to make a float displaying the seven days of creation, as written in the Old Testament Bible.

Day 1:

Light and Dark

Two pieces of material were simply draped around each other.

Day 2:

Heaven and Earth

Because the sun, moon and stars were not created on this day the only things that could be shown to illustrate sky was clouds, and below them brown material represented the earth. The clouds were made from acryilan, a material used to stuff cushions.

Day 3:

Water, land Masses, Plants and Trees

A waterfall was created using material, blue plastic bags and cellophane. A land mass was made out of paper mache as well as the trunk of a tree. The branches of the tree are metal and the leaves and flowers are made out of material and cellophane.

Day 4:

Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars

The sun and moon were each made using sheets of foam cut into the right shape, stuffed with acrylan and sealed with a glue gun. Then they were spray painted and glitter was added. The stars were cut out of stiff board and threaded on to fishing wire which was attached to the metal rod at the top and bottom.

Day 5:

Birds of a Feather and Fish of the Sea

The fish were made in the same way as the sun and moon; using sheets of foam stuffed, glued and glittered! They were then attached to the metal rod of the parade float's frame. Above the fish there is a flying bird. After the foam bird was made paint and feathers were added to give it color.

Day 6:

Man and Beast

On the parade float sits a lion next to a sleeping lamb. The two animals were made using papier mache over a frame of chicken coop wire. Then the lion was given a fur mane and painted and the lamb had acrylan "wool" attached. Above the animals the metal rod has been turned into a snake (with an apple in it's mouth) and above the snake are a man and a woman. The reason for the couple's position, appearing to emerge from a tree, is because of the modesty aspect. The school in question is religious and they didn't want to see Adam and Eve in their birthday suits. However on further investigation the parade float makers realized that Eve was not created on the sixth day with Adam, she only came along later in the story.

Day 7:

Sabbath

On the seventh day G-d rested, so they could either show a bearded old man taking a nap or what is today celebrated among religious Jews as the Sabbath. The symbols of Sabbath are shown on a white Sabbath "tablecloth". There are the Sabbath candles, a prayer book, a torah scroll and a goblet for the blessing on the wine. It the middle is a bread covering with the words Sabbath Shalom written on it. This cloth is used to cover the Sabbath Challah bread before the blessing on the bread at the beginning of the meal on a Sabbath.

The parade float appeared a little crowded and each "day" needed to be looked at separately in order to understand it. To make the float's meaning clearer a quote from the bible of each day's creation was stuck to the side of the parade float trolley under it's corresponding day.