Why do we fast on Tannis Esther? In memory of what historical occurrence?
Answer
Some say the Jews fasted the day they fought, or the day before it. (So on Purim, more or less.)
Some say that the holiday commemorates "divrei hatzomos v'zaakasam", the matter of their fasts and cries; so we fast the day before Purim to commemorate that in the Purim story, Esther and the Jewish people all fasted and prayed before she approached the king. (Even though the actual fasting in the Purim story happened not in the Hebrew month of Adar in which Purim is celebrated, but 11 months earlier, in Nisan of the previous year).
Lastly, the Raavad in Sefer HaEshkol says the fast has nothing to do with any of this. It's that if people could eat the day before Purim, they might drink too, and once they're drinking ... well .. as Rabbi Hershel Welcher put it, "We want people to show up to Megillah reading, able to stand up on two feet!"
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