When Passover 2024 starts, how long is it and how to wish someone Happy Passover
23.04.2024 - 06:47
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Jewish communities in Greater Manchester and across the world will be celebrating Passover next week. This year, the Jewish festival which marks the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt starts on the evening of Monday (April 22), lasting eight days in the UK.
Families and friends come together on the first night of the festival for the Seder - a ritual feast where foods symbolising the exodus story are consumed. Many Jewish people living outside of Israel in the diaspora take part in a second Seder the following night too.
Those who observe the rules of the festival are prohibited from eating certain foods - predominantly bread - for an eight-day period. Instead, unleavened bread called matza is eaten, while other foods containing certain grains can be made with substitute ingredients.
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Passover typically takes place in March or April and often coincides with Easter. But this year, the festival features later in the calendar.
The festival starts on the 15th day of Nissan in the Jewish calendar which means that the date in the Gregorian calendar changes every year. This year, the festival begins on the evening of Monday, April 22 and lasts eight days, ending on the evening of Thursday, April 13.
The first two nights involve a meal called the Seder – Hebrew for 'order'. Jewish people usually celebrate the festival by telling the exodus story at a Seder meal on the first night, and, outside of Israel, many Jews repeat the ceremonial meal on the second night too.
Jewish people who celebrate Passover retell the story of the Israelites' exodus from slavery in Egypt by reading from a book called a haggadah on both Seder