This weekend is the holy celebration of Passover and Easter.
First, in both Christianity and Judaism, the dates for the major spring holidays are guided by an intricate dance of the moon and the sun–the lunar solar calendar. This means Passover and Holy Week (from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday) often overlap.
This year they fall on the same weekend.
For those that haven’t thought about it, the Crucifixion happened just after Passover. Jesus, the Son Of God, a Jew, had come to Jerusalem for Passover. The last supper was a Passover celebration.
As a result, there are contrasting moods between Passover and Good Friday. Good Friday is a solemn commemoration of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. A Passover Seder is a joyous celebration of the exodus of the Jewish people, from slavery in Egypt, involving feasting and drinking.
Easter is delayed by 1 week if the full moon is on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover.
Pesach or Passover, is an eight-day holiday that begins on the 15th of the Jewish month of Nisan. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, so the 15th of Nisan can be in March or April. Sometimes, Easter is celebrated during Pesach, and sometimes, they are a full month apart.
In addition, Passover is a major Jewish festival commemorating the liberation of the children of Israel, by Moses, from the abject slavery and domination of the Pharaohs. A joyous celebration.
Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, which is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, after he was publicly crucified.
I feel it’s important for people to acknowledge and celebrate their holy holidays, depending on what their beliefs are.
As you do this, people are brought together to celebrate things that matter to them and what their heritage may be.
My kids dad is a Jew. I am not. I was raised Christian. When our son was born, I was the one who made the decision to raise him and any other children we had, in the Jewish faith.
We lived in a very small town at the time, Muncie, Indiana. My mother-in-law talked with me and told me our kids would be thought of as Jews in this small town, so why not raise them Jewish to grow up learning and understanding this part of their heritage?
I found that the Jewish people celebrate many different holidays than I did. Learning how to cook for all of the Jewish holidays was a joy. I grew to love so much about their traditions.
It mattered to my family that I learned not only how to make the delicious traditional foods but to also encourage our children to learn about their Jewish religion.
Because I took them to Sunday school and the Jewish community was very small in Muncie, they asked me to help teach some of the Old Testament. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t Jewish!
Therefore, we hosted the different Rabbi’s that had to drive in from Cincinnati, Ohio in our home for the weekend, over the years. There was no rabbi that lived in our town. Learning more from the Rabbi, while in our home, was helpful to me as well.
I’m sharing all of this with you now, since many of you don’t know this part of me and we’re celebrating a holy weekend.
I came to love and celebrate all of the Jewish holidays. Pesach was such a joyous time around our Seder table!
Our kids went on to choose to become a Bar and Bat Mitzvah together since they were close in age. I have the entire ceremony and celebration recorded. I watched it awhile back and it reminded me about how important it is to have holy celebrations.
No matter your religion or faith, I encourage you to take the time to celebrate your beliefs. As most of you read this, you may be celebrating Easter today or Passover. I liked this photo above because it has symbols for Easter, Passover and people of all faiths, color or orientation, celebrating.
I wish for you peace, joy, love and celebration,
Connie
PS. Here is a link that goes into great detail about Easter and Passover:
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