Passover
(Pesach),
is celebrated in the spring,
beginning on
the
15
th of
Nisan.
Passover is the festival
celebrating the Exodus from
Egypt (c. 13th century BCE)
and liberation from bondage.
Freedom is, indeed, the
festival’s dominant theme.
The rites of
Passover begin long before
the festival, as families
and businesses cleanse their
premises of hametz - leaven
and anything containing it -
as prescribed in the Bible
(Ex. 12:15-20). The day
before the festival is
devoted to preparatory
rituals including ceremonial
burning of the forbidden
foodstuff. On the holiday
evening, the seder is
recited: an elaborate
retelling of the enslavement
and redemption. At this
festive meal, the extended
family gathers to read the
Haggadah and enjoy
traditional foods,
particularly matza
(unleavened bread). The
following day’s observances
resemble those of the other
pilgrimage festivals.
Passover is probably
second only to
Yom
Kippur in traditional
observance by the generally
nonobservant. In addition, a
secular Passover rite based
on the festival’s
agricultural connotations is
practiced in some kibbutzim.
It serves as a spring
festival, a festival of
freedom, and the date of the
harvesting of the first ripe
grain. Passover also
includes the second
“intermediate” week - five
half-sacred, half-ordinary
days devoted to extended
prayer and leisure - and it
concludes with another
festival day.
