Passover History

The first two nights of Passover are celebrated with the Seder -- a traditional and ritualized family meal that is intended to inspire reflection upon the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to Mount Sinai.

Matzo (unleavened bread -- just dough from water and flour, no yeast) is both a symbol of and one of the main foods of Passover. It is a reminder that when the Jews left Egypt they did so with such haste, that they had no time to bake bread to take on their journey. The dough that they did take was baked into hard crackers in the desert sun.

Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot are considered the three pilgrim festivals that recognize the pilgrimage of the Jewish population to Jerusalem. Passover and Shavuot are sometimes also connected with the celebration of the grain harvest in ancient Israel -- with the barley harvest traditionally happening on Passover and the wheat harvest on Shavuot.