As a little kid, I was always told that a Hamantasch is representative of Haman's three cornered hat. Is there an actual source that says Haman wore a three cornered hat or is it just Folklore?
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2Possible duplicate of Where did Hamantashen come from?– NaftaliMar 17, 2016 at 17:17
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When I was little I used to think it was Haman's (mous)tache– Moses SupposesDec 4 at 18:08
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2 Answers
I was told the following by a Rebbe of mine (My Yiddish is sorely lacking, so can't verify it to be true, but why would he make this up?):
In Europe, they made "hamantaschen" out of poppy, which in Yiddish is Mon. A pocket in Yiddish is a Tasch. Mon-Tasch, or plural Mon-taschen, (poppy pockets) were a popular purim snack. The similarity of Mon to Haman caused people to start calling it that, and afterwards the "explanation" came along.
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1The problem I have with this explanation is where does the hat come in? How do you get from poppy pockets to Haman's hat? Feb 27, 2014 at 0:12
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2@Bochur613: It sounds like the pastry was known as "montaschen" and enjoyed all year round. At some point, perhaps as a Purim joke, it got the name "hamantashcen". Later on, the original name was forgotten.– EphraimFeb 27, 2014 at 16:18
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Perhaps it's a corruption of Mohn-Törtchen? (Search for it online. Also see Mohn-Tartelettes)– EphraimFeb 27, 2014 at 16:24
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@Bochur613 Because pockets aren't 3 cornered, and hats can be. Folklore often develops this way - when you are trying to fit the explanation to the facts.– Y e zFeb 27, 2014 at 19:33
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@Ephraim As I said, I do not claim to know the Yiddish enough to comment.– Y e zFeb 27, 2014 at 19:34
A possible connection with Haman's hat is that the Ibn Ezra Writes that Haman had affixed his idol to his hat. When people bowed to Haman they also bowed to the idol on the hat.
Eating something with a connection maybe symbolizes destroying the idol on the hat. This is just a theory.
