Passover celebrates the Jewish people's emancipation from slavery under the rule of the Pharohs and their eventual exodus from Egypt. Traditionally, the holiday begins at sunset on the 15th day of the month Nisan on the Jewish calendar. This year Passover begins at sunset on April 8th and ends on April 16 at nightfall.
Families pay tribute to their Jewish heritage and traditions by joining with friends and relatives for a Passover dinner called a seder. In preparation for the seder, houses are furiously cleaned to ensure that all bread or any leavened products called Chametz are discarded. The reason for this traces to the Jewish people's flight from Egypt, when the Pharoh provided them with a brief window of time to prepare bread for the exodus. Because of the brief time allowed the bread couldn't rise. Today, unleavened bread or matzah is used during Passover.
For many orthodox families the seder can consist of numerous parts and can be very long.
The "required" elements of the seder include a retelling of the story of the Jewish exodus from the Haggadah (which also includes the order of the seder and blessings for the food), eating matzah and drinking four cups of wine.
In most orthodox families a special seder plate is placed on the table adorned with various representations from the story. They include: a lamb bone for the sacrificial lamb used to protect homes from the ten plagues; bitter herbs to show the bitter lives of the slaves; Haroset (a mixture of apples, nuts, honey, wine and cinnamon is used to represent the clay used to build the great cities; parsley and an egg are the images of spring; and a bowl of salt water in which the greens are dipped symbolizes the tears of the slaves.
In North America, some of the traditional Passover dishes include: matzah balls eaten in a chicken soup, matzah brei (similar to French toast), beef brisket, carrot kugel as well as a huge variety of cakes and cookies made from unleavened grains.
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