Judaism

Passover

When is Passover in 2027, what it remembers, how the seder meal is held with its plate of symbolic foods, and why bread is not eaten for eight days.

Next date

22–29 April 2027

Begins at sunset the evening before.

Begins at sunset on 21 April; the first seder is held that evening.

In brief

I.Passover, Pesach in Hebrew, remembers the Exodus: the escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
II.It opens with the seder, a ritual meal at home in which the story is told.
III.For the whole festival no leavened bread is eaten; flat matzah is eaten instead.
IV.It lasts seven days in Israel and eight in most of the diaspora.

Chapter I

What it celebrates

The Book of Exodus tells how the Israelites, enslaved in Egypt, were freed by God through Moses after ten plagues. They left in such haste that their bread had no time to rise.

Passover is the festival of freedom. Jews are commanded to tell the story to their children, and to see themselves as if they personally had come out of Egypt.

Chapter II

How it is kept

Before the festival homes are cleaned of all chametz, leavened food. On the first night, and in the diaspora also the second, families hold the seder The ritual meal on the first night or nights of Passover, at which the Exodus story is told. Glossary, “order”. They read the Haggadah The text read at the Passover seder, telling the story of the Exodus. Glossary, which tells the story; the youngest child asks four questions; four cups of wine are drunk; matzah and bitter herbs are eaten; songs are sung late into the night. A cup is set for the prophet Elijah, and the door is opened for him.

Chapter III

Around the world

Seders range from small family tables to community meals for hundreds. Many communities have their own customs: Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews may eat rice and legumes forbidden by Ashkenazi custom, and some Persian Jews strike each other playfully with spring onions during a song, recalling the whips of slavery.

Questions people ask

Why is it called Passover?

In the Exodus story, the final plague struck the firstborn of Egypt but “passed over” the houses of the Israelites, marked with the blood of a lamb.

What is on the seder plate?

Usually a roasted bone, an egg, bitter herbs, charoset (a sweet paste of fruit and nuts), a green vegetable dipped in salt water and often a second bitter herb. Each recalls part of the story.

Sources and further reading

Toronto Metropolitan University, “2027 Calendar of Religious, Indigenous and Spiritual Observances”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Passover”
Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary (HarperCollins, 1985)

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