Passover Traditions & Customs

The most important Passover tradition is the Passover feast known as Seder. The removal of chametz or leavened food on the first nigh of the holiday is known as 'Bedikat chametz'. Only Matzoh and other special foods made from matzoh are allowed during this happy family holiday. This is the occasion for the Jewish families to go through their origin and history by reading the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt as told in the Book of Exodus, the Haggadah. The custom of Afikomen or the dessert matzoh has slight variations to it.

In some families, a child 'steals' the afikomen and hide it for the parents to find and earns a reward to return it if parents can't find it while in others, parents hide the afikomen and the children look for it at the end of the meal. The child, who finds it, gets the reward. The Seder Plate is an important part of the Seder table containing 'Z'roa' or the shank bone of the Paschal lamb, 'Beitzah' or the roasted egg, 'Karpas' or the green, leafy vegetable dipped in salt water, 'Charoset' or a coarse-textured dish of chopped fruits, nuts, and wine and 'Maror' or bitter herbs.

One of the most interesting Passover traditions is the story of the Four Sons, who were Wise, Wicked, Simple and Young respectively. These sons are symbolic of the four types of Jews and their attitude towards their religion. The Wise son refer to the Jews who are observant, the Wicked son represents the Jews who are not respectful to their heritage and religion and reject them altogether, the Simple son is the one who is indifferent to all the religious activities and do not even try to understand them while the Young one represents the Jews who are ignorant of their culture and traditions.