The Jewish holiday of Purim celebrates the victory of the Jews over their enemies in the Persian Empire, and especially Haman. Haman had once been the second most important person in the Empire next to the King Ahasuerus. A Jew named Mordecai, embarrassed and insulted him when he refused to bow before him, and he began to concoct a plan to destroy all of the Jews.
The queen, Esther, who happened to be a Jew and Mordecai’s cousin foiled the plot, and saved her people, and her cousin. Haman was hung, and the Jewish people allowed to defend themselves against all enemies.
Every year at Purim, during the reading of the story from the Book of Esther, or the Megillah, whenever the name of the notorious villain, Haman, is mentioned, it is met with boos, hisses, stomping, clapping, and noise from the gragger. The object is to drown out any mention of the evil man’s name from the story.
Gragger is a Yiddish word for noisemaker. It is a rectangular box, filled with something that will rattle. It is usually equipped with a handle, and can be spun around to make noise. It can also be a designed as a wooden cog wheel on a handle and two flanges that hit the teeth of the wheel to make noise. One of the favorite aspects of Purim for children, it is one time when they are obligated to make as much noise as they can.
In the Torah, a commandment instructs the Jewish people to “wipe out the memory of Amalek”, which includes Haman. Amalek was a tribe, descended from Esau, who were the first to attack the Jews as they were fleeing from Egypt. The gragger fulfills this commandment by wiping out the name Haman from the story each time it is mentioned.
Graggers are ancient noisemakers, and may be decorated and passed down from generation to generation. Very old graggers and especially elaborate ones, are often found in museums.
Through the years legends and stories have grown up around the use of the gragger, including one that took place in Russia centuries ago.
A Russian Prince became sick while traveling through a remote Jewish community, and, the Jews were accused of poisoning him. The Czar arrived, and instructed everyone to be absolutely quiet, and, if his son died, the Jews would be punished.
It was Purim, and during the reading, it was understood that no graggers would be used. One little boy, however, joyfully spun his gragger loudly, waking the Prince who was near death, and causing him to recover.
Examples of the gragger are known to most people from similar New Year’s Eve noisemakers.
http://www.torah.org/features/holydays/grogger.html#