Passover | Story, Meaning, Traditions, & Facts | Britannica

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Early historical development

Seder plateSeder plate from Pesaro, Italy, 1614; in the Jewish Museum, New York City.(more)

Passover was originally the New Year holiday in Judaism, and Exodus 12:2 explicitly describes Passover as marking the first day of the year. By the first centuries ce, however, Rosh Hashana ascended in popularity and took over the role of primary New Year festival. Passover became one of four new year festivals in Judaism—Rosh Hashana, Tu BiShvat, and the first of Elul being the others—and was considered the new year for reckoning kings’ reigns and for the Jewish festival cycle.

When the Temple of Jerusalem was first completed (957 bce) it became a pilgrimage destination, and Passover was one of Judaism’s three pilgrimage holidays alongside Shavuot and Sukkot. A central focus of the Passover pilgrimage festival in the temple was the sacrifice and communal consumption of Paschal lambs, which took place on the 14th of Nisan and represented the lambs the Israelites sacrificed in Egypt to inform God to “pass over” their homes. After the Second Temple was destroyed by Rome in 70 ce, animal sacrifice was discontinued and the home and family shifted from a dimension of the Passover celebration to its primary focus.

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