Passover : Pesach (Hebrew פֶּסַח, Pesach, Latin: Pascha « Easter Is one of the three feasts of pilgrimage of Judaism prescribed by the Hebrew Bible, during which the brutal Exodus from Egypt and the beginning of the season for the moisson de l 'barley which inaugurates the annual agricultural cycle.
It begins on Nissan 14 at nightfall (which corresponds, depending on the year, to the end of March or April in the Gregorian calendar) and lasts seven days (eight in the diaspora according to Orthodox Judaism) of which only the first and the last are totally public holidays. It also inaugurates the period of the omer at the end of which the feast of Shavuot is celebrated.
Particularly rich in rites and customs, the feast was originally distinguished by the paschal offering that the Jews cannot make since the destruction of the Temple (the Samaritans continue to offer it on Mount Garizim). The obligation to eat matzot (foodstuffs unleavened) and to ban hametz (foods made from Raised dough and / or fermented) throughout the Party remains in effect.
This festival has its origins in the agricultural rite of unleavened and the nomadic rite of blood de l 'lamb spread on tent poles to ward off epidemics.