My little Haggadah

Tonight I took part in a Seder- the Jewish meal celebrating passover.
This was the fourth annual Seder hosted by my downstairs neighbour. He [and his girlfriend, a friend of mine] invite as many people as possible and have a big feast with all the Seder foods.

Seder stands for "order"- in that there is a specific order to the way the foods are eaten, each one representing a different stage in the freedom of the Hebrews. The whole thing was done quite comfortably and informally, with laughing and jest mixed with real purpose and procession. Ari [our host] handed out his childhood colouring books on the Seder for us to follow along with, sing songs, and learn the history behind it all. When appropriate he read/sang the Hebrew scripts from the Haggadah.

The meal consisted of hard boiled eggs and parsley- representing spring and rebirth; Haroseth- a mix of walnuts, apples, and wine; horseraddish representing the bitterness endured by the slaves; chicken [in place of a shank bone which could not be attained] representative of sacrifice; and matzoh bread [and matzoh ball soup]- unleavened like that made by the hebrews and carried on their backs- baked by the sun, when they crossed the desert in escape.

At the end of the ceremony, Ari posed a few theoretical questions which had the whole group off on a philosophical discussion on the nature of freedom for the rest of the wine-filled evening.

yay for last-minute weird but very cool events.