Facts about Passover and Easter

1. The famous Passover meal in the New Testament is known as The Lord’s Supper. This meal was the last time Jesus ate with his disciples before his crucifixion. Although the Passover is an important part of Jewish cultural and faith traditions, it has great relevance for Christians as well.

2. Easter Sunday is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the 21st of March. If the first full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter Sunday is celebrated the first Sunday thereafter.

3. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not celebrate Easter every year on the same weekend as we do because they have a different calendar.

4. The pagan Easter celebration with the Easter Bunny and the eggs has nothing to do with the true Easter. It is the celebration of fertility and spring. Therefore, it is also called a spring festival – the rebirth of the soil after the long, cold winter. In South Africa this time is always in autumn.

5.The Jewish Pesach falls on the Hebrew calendar dates Nissan 15-22. This is the 14th day of the first month in the Jewish calendar. Their Easter is 8 days long. In 2020 it is from sundown on Wednesday, 8 April and ends on Thursday 16 April.

6.Seder is the Jewish ritual service or ceremonial meal for the first or first two evenings of Easter. The Hebrew word sedar means order.

7. Passover celebrates the historic exodus of Hebrew slaves or Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

8. We read in 2 Chronicles 35 of King Josiah who slaughtered more than 37,000 sheep during the Passover. Think of all the blood of the sheep that flowed!

9. Yeast is strongly associated with the destructive power of sin. Unleavened bread symbolises holiness. Unleavened bread is made without raising agents like yeast. It is a type of flat bread.

10. Because the Lord established this day Himself, everyone must celebrate Passover. In Numbers 9:14 we read that if anyone failed without a valid excuse to celebrate the Passover, he was cut off from his people.

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