Passover is coming

L

LincolnSpector

Well-Known Member
Messages
109
Reaction score
1
Points
18
One of my favorite festivals, Pesach (Passover) is only a few days away. For 8 days, we commemorate the Exodus from Egypt.

For those 8 days, we follow stricter-than-usual dietary rules. We eat unleavened matzo instead of bread. Pretty much all other wheat products, plus oats and barley, are forbidden. Ashkenazi tradition bans beans, legumes, rice, and corn, as well. Although I'm Ashkenazi, I now follow the less-strict Sepharic traditions, which allow those. Most people I know do, as well.

But there's an important part: With all those food restrictions, Pesach is a feasting holiday. You're supposed to enjoy what you eat during the festival. You can dishes that you don't make year-round and everyone enjoys the food.
 
Funny how different religions have similar observances around the same time of year. Ram Nuami just past on the Hindu calendar and Lent is going on now for Christians.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Funny how different religions have similar observances around the same time of year. Ram Nuami just past on the Hindu calendar and Lent is going on now for Christians.
Click to expand...

Nothing funny about it. These religions all came out of agricultural societies. Seasons are very important. Most religions have holidays around each solstice and equinox.

And, of course, Passover and Easter are tied together, since Christian tradition says that the Crucifixion and Resurrection happened during Passover. It's no coincidence that Easter usually lands inside Passover.
 
LS, you said,

"It's no coincidence that Easter usually lands inside Passover."

--> The date of Easter is astrologically determined, so I think it's hilarious when I hear Christians condemn astrology. (I have a born-again acquaintance who calls the twelve Zodiac signs "signs of the devil"!)

How is the date of Passover determined?
 
Nick the Pilot said:
LS, you said,

"It's no coincidence that Easter usually lands inside Passover."

--> The date of Easter is astrologically determined, so I think it's hilarious when I hear Christians condemn astrology. (I have a born-again acquaintance who calls the twelve Zodiac signs "signs of the devil"!)

How is the date of Passover determined?
Click to expand...
Passover is an 8-day holiday that starts on the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The Hebrew calendar is lunar; every month starts on the new moon. So Passover always starts on a full moon.

The Hebrew calendar is also a very loose solar calendar. (How loose? The Gregorian calendar is a very accurate solar one; every four years we add one day to keep it in sync. The Jewish calendar adds an extra month seven times every 19 years.) Nisan generally comes around the same time as April.

btw, I thought that Easter was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Was I wrong?
 
LS, you asked,

"I thought that Easter was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Was I wrong?"

--> Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. The western (non-Greek-orthodox) Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Aries (very astrological). But Easter is postponed (as it is this year) when that first full moon is eclipsed (extremely astrological).
 
LincolnSpector said:
btw, I thought that Easter was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Was I wrong?
Click to expand...
No, you're right.

Spring equinox: March 21
1st full moon: April 15
Easter Sunday: April 20

Interestingly, April 15 marks the first of four eclipses that will occur at 6-monthly intervals: April 15, October 8, April 4, 2015 and then September 28, 2015.

My daughters bought me a telescope for my birthday, so I hope I will have the chance to view. (I remember waking them up in the middle of the night, when they were kids, to see a full lunar eclipse. They were tremendously unimpressed... )
 
Thomas said:
(I remember waking them up in the middle of the night, when they were kids, to see a full lunar eclipse. They were tremendously unimpressed... )
Click to expand...

I remember being very excited that evening, but not so much when dad woke me up. Need sleepy for brainy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top