It's time for our favorite feast: Passover! Our tradition is to hold a whole-day celebration and feast, doing activities throughout the day with the kids and talking about Messiah as our Passover Lamb throughout the day.
One of the first things we do is to burn the last of the leaven (yeast) in our homes.
Throughout the day, at various times, we did the traditional Four Cups that are drawn from Exodus 6:6-7: The Cup of Sanctification ("I will bring you out of Egypt"), The Cup of Deliverance ("I will deliver you from slavery"), The Cup of Redemption (I will redeem you with My power") and the Cup of Restoration ("I will take you as My people"). For each one, a father from one of the families gave a short teaching on the meaning of the particular cup and how it relates to Yeshua. It makes for some cool discussion and thought.
Then we get started on food! We had cheese, fruit and veggies to snack on.
Then it was time for the lamb. The families all pitch in to get a lamb for slaughter and eating. This is in no way a sacrifice, but a way of remembering the Exodus and a stark picture of the death of Messiah.
Afterwards, we read the Exodus Story together using the book Let My People Go!, which has different reading parts for different people. This year we broke it up into families, so one family spoke Pharoah's part, one did the people, one did Moses, and one did the Narrator. It turned into a bit of a competition to see who could do their part the loudest. :)
While we were doing that, the lamb was roasting on the grill. It roasts for 3 to 4 hours, whole, covered with olive oil, salt and spices. The smell is amazing! And when it's done, and we've trimmed off the meat, we have a tradition of picking some of the leftover bits from the carcass.
I love that my kids have no illusions about where our food comes from. :)
Then, per the Exodus story, we burn the remains of a fire.
Now it time for the meal! Each year, the families bring side dishes and desserts, all around a particular cultural type, this year being Latino. We had beans and rice, fried plantains, salsas and all kinds of desserts. One family even brought homemade flan. I'm not a fan of flan, but this stuff was fantastic.
Later, we symbolically paint the doorposts like in the Exodus story.
And then it's time for The Prince Of Egypt! The kids all generally watch while the parents sit and socialize and eat dessert. :)
And then it's bedtime. This year, we brought our new (to us) camper to try it out. It actually fits all of us really comfortably and we're very happy to have it. The rest of the families piled into various rooms in the house. In the morning, we each had brought breakfast kugels to share that were very tasty. All-in-all, it was a wonderful time of celebration and fellowship that we love sharing in every year!
